Famous Thinkers: Steven Spielberg & Grace Hopper Essay

Famous thinkers can come from all walks of life and can be from our generation and others. Reaching goals can be done in many ways. The similarity famous thinkers is that they are all share creative minds and are all creative thinkers. Creative ideas are the foundation of creative process (Goodman & Fritchie, 2011). Famous thinkers base their ideas on searching for solutions to problem, need, or the way others think or view specific issues. When I think of famous thinkers a vast number of people come to mind. Two thinkers that genuinely stand out to me are Steven Spielberg & Grace Hopper. My article will provide more details on the influence and accomplishments of these great thinkers. Steven Spielberg Steven Spielberg had an early start on his career, even as a child he was an amateur filmmaker. Spielberg became an Academy Award-winning director and one of the youngest television directors. His opportunities became endless after the television film, Duel in 1972, which landed him a chance to direct for the cinema. Steven Spielberg has brought unique contributions to society. Ten ways he has done this is 1.Helping to create the idea of the movie â€Å"blockbuster.† 2.Bringing back our sense of wonder 3.Helping to make robot uprising the new zombie apocalypse 4.Bringing back the Saturday morning serial 5.Co-founding a successful new studio, and helping bring back animated films 6.Preserving and shaping the memory of World War II 7.Showing that video games could be a viable storytelling tool. 8.Taking on tough adaptations/re-imaginings, and making them happen 9.Keeping science fiction alive on TV 10.Being an early adopter and innovator of CGI His work has shaped viewers love for cheesy, all out, ridiculously expensive summer-fun-rides through his creative mind and continues to today. Using his creative mind he explored primeval fears, tackled literary adaptations, historical, daredevil heroes, and imaginative fantasy through his movies giving the audience something to fall in love with. Even with all of Spielberg’s success came struggles. His favorite kind of film was the  melodrama (action film). Spielberg’s passion for this melodrama films has often attracted criticism. When compared to realism or tragedy, melodrama in a sense seems childish. Some say the melodrama seems juvenile and artificial when compared to realism or tragedy. Even with their criticism Spielberg is still today is found to be America’s most well-known successful maker of cinematic melodramas. Spielberg’s films also have innocence and often portray broken families. His films show his fondness for broken families and seem connected to his own personal experiences. His parents were divorced when he was sixteen. He did not have a close connection with his father which led to some of his films about missing or neglectful fathers and lonely children. With all he had experienced, his films were filled with emotions that fell close to the heart. Without the personal emotional subconscious themes, Spielberg’s films wouldn’t have been such a success. As we all know films can be expensive. One reason a lot of his films focus on broken families and children is because the audience is easy to appeal. His idea to concentrate on melodramas was a strategy that focuses on young people and can be appreciated by both adults and children. All these factors, personal, social, and political environments have affected his creativity in his films. Today he still amazes his audience with his creativity in his films. He has three Academy Award wins, many other honors, and he also received the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He also received the Directors Guild of America Lifetime Achievement Award and the French Legion of Honor. In 2005 he was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame. Grace Hopper Grace Hopper, a computer programmer, is known for helping develop and lead the team that created the first computer language compiler, which was a precursor to the widely used COBOL language. She also became an admiral in the U.S. Navy. Grace Hopper also known as Grace Brewster Murray went to college at Vassar and Yale University to study math and received a master’s degree in mathematics. While studying at Yale Grace taught at Vassar. She was the first women to receive a Ph.D. in mathematics at Yale. Her education brought her too many opportunities including an associate professor at Vassar. She joined the U.S. Naval Reserve around World War II  and was commissioned as a lieutenant. Grace Hopper went to Harvard University and was assigned to the Bureau of Ordnance Computation Project. This is where she learned to program a Mark I computer and later worked with the Mark II and Mark III computers. The term â€Å"computer bug† had come from an experience Grace had at Ha rvard after finding a moth that shorted out the Mark II. She was not the author of â€Å"computer bug† but played her part. She also led the team that created the first compilers for computer languages. Her journey continues as she returns to the navy for active duty at the age of 60 and retires at the age of 79. Grace was one of the oldest serving officers in the service. She was not ready to retire in the sense that she would be bored if she stopped working completely. She stayed in the computer industry for a few more years and was rewarded the National Medal of Technology. She was the first female to receive this honor. Grace Hopper died at the age of 85. She had so many accomplishments and was the first for many of them. Her strong personality and creative mind kept her going and she even encouraged many young people to learn how to program. Her motivation help her creativity continues throughout her career. Conclusion Steven Spielberg and Grace Hopper are both great famous thinkers that have brought unique contributions to society. Although they are very different in the career paths and how they contribute to our society, each have their own unique way of implementing their ideas and solutions. I found both to be very interesting and their accomplishments to be amazing. Their lives as children have affected the life they live today and the career they lead. I don’t think they needed to do anything differently. They had amazing lives and accomplished so much that they set out for. They take in consideration their surroundings, environment, and audience when making decisions and developing ideas. Although Grace is no longer with us, she still has a strong presence on society. Spielberg continues to amaze his audience with his films.