Hopper, Edward, 1882-1967, American painter and engraver, b. Nyack, N.Y., studied in New York City with Robert Henri. Hopper lived in France for a year but was little influenced by the artistic currents there. His early paintings had slight success; he gained a reputation, however, through his etchings, which remain popular. The first one-man show of his paintings was held in 1920. Hopper excelled in creating realistic pictures of clear-cut, sunlit streets and houses, often without figures. In his paintings there is a frequent atmosphere of loneliness, an almost menacing starkness, and a clear sense of time of day or night. His work in oil and watercolor is slowly and carefully painted, with light and shade used for pattern rather than for modeling. Hopper is represented in many leading American museums. Early Sunday Morning (1930; Whitney Museum, N.Y.C.) and Nighthawks (1942; Art Institute of Chicago) are characteristic oils.

Hopper, Grace, 1906-92, American computer scientist, b. New York City as Grace Brewster Murray. She was educated at Vassar College and Yale (Ph.D., 1934). After teaching at Vassar (1931-1943), she joined the U.S. Naval Reserve, serving on active duty until 1946. Assigned to the Bureau of Ordnance's computation project at Harvard, she worked on the Mark series of computers. At the conclusion of World War II she began her search for a means of making computer programs easier to write. Her answer was the compiler, a specialized program that translates instructions written in a programming language into the binary coding of machine language. In 1952 she unveiled the A-0 compiler, and Hopper began working on a compiler oriented to business tasks. In 1955 she introduced FLOW-MATIC, which became the prototype for the first commercially successful business-oriented programming language, COBOL. Hopper returned to active duty with the Navy in 1967, charged with leading the effort to combine various versions of COBOL into USA Standard COBOL. She retired in 1986 with the rank of rear admiral.

or beach flea

Hopping terrestrial crustacean (family Talitridae). The European sand flea (Talitrus saltator) is about 0.6 in. (1.5 cm) long. The long-horned sand flea (T. longicornis), found on the North American Atlantic coast, has antennae the same length as the waxy white body, up to 1 in. (2.5 cm) long. During the day, sand fleas lie buried near the high-tide mark; at night, they forage for organic debris. The common sand flea (Orchestia agilis, or platensis) lives along Atlantic coasts of Europe and the Americas.

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(b. July 22, 1882, Nyack, N.Y., U.S.—d. May 15, 1967, New York, N.Y.) U.S. painter. He was initially trained as an illustrator but later studied painting with Robert Henri. In 1913 he exhibited in the Armory Show but spent much of his time on advertising art and illustrative etchings. In the mid 1920s he turned to watercolours and oil paintings of urban life. His House by the Railroad (1925) and Room in Brooklyn (1932) depict still, anonymous figures within geometric building forms, producing the haunting sense of isolation that was to be his hallmark. He used light to isolate figures and objects, as in Early Sunday Morning (1930) and Nighthawks (1942). His mature style was already formed in the 1920s; his later development showed constant refinement and an even greater mastery of light.

Learn more about Hopper, Edward with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(b. July 22, 1882, Nyack, N.Y., U.S.—d. May 15, 1967, New York, N.Y.) U.S. painter. He was initially trained as an illustrator but later studied painting with Robert Henri. In 1913 he exhibited in the Armory Show but spent much of his time on advertising art and illustrative etchings. In the mid 1920s he turned to watercolours and oil paintings of urban life. His House by the Railroad (1925) and Room in Brooklyn (1932) depict still, anonymous figures within geometric building forms, producing the haunting sense of isolation that was to be his hallmark. He used light to isolate figures and objects, as in Early Sunday Morning (1930) and Nighthawks (1942). His mature style was already formed in the 1920s; his later development showed constant refinement and an even greater mastery of light.

Learn more about Hopper, Edward with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Hopper may refer to:

Mechanical parts

• A general term for a chute with additional width and depth to provide a volume for temporary storage of material(s). The bottom of the hopper chute typically has a mechanism to control the flow of materials, thus allowing them to be metered out at the desired rate.
• Part of a combine harvester
• Part of a paintball gun

Transportation

• Hopper (spacecraft), a proposed spacecraft
• Hopper balloon, a kind of ultralight hot air balloon
• Hopper barge, a kind of barge
• Hopper car, a type of railway freight car
• USS Hopper, a U.S. Navy destroyer

Insects

• Leafhopper, a member of the family Cicadellidae
• Treehopper, a member of the family Membracidae
• The immature form of a locust

People with the surname Hopper

• Andy Hopper (1953—), British computer scientist
• Dennis Hopper (1936—), American actor
• DeWolf Hopper (1858–1935), American actor, singer, comedian and producer
• Edward Hopper (1882–1967), American painter and printmaker
• Grace Hopper (1906–1992), American computer scientist and naval officer
• Heather Hopper (1976—), American actress
• Hedda Hopper (1885–1966), American actress and gossip columnist
• Hugh Hopper (1945—) English guitarist and composer
• Isaac Hopper (1771–1852), American abolitionist and underground railroad pioneer
• Josephine Hopper (1883–1968), American artist and wife of Edward Hopper
• Kev Hopper (1961—), Musician
• Paul Hopper, American linguist of British birth
• Shirley Ximena Hopper Russell (1886–1985), American artist best known for Hawaiian themes
• Thomas Hopper (1776–1856), English architect
• Wilbert Hopper (1933–2006), Canadian business executive
• William Hopper (1915–1970), American actor

Other meanings

• Profession of one who harvests hops and lives in a Hopper hut.
• Hopper (food)
• A fairy chess piece
• The Hoppers, a Southern Gospel group
• Hopper (Clerk), Box on House Clerk's desk
• young street level drug dealer

See also

• Hop