The World’s First Computer Bug

On September 9, 1947, the world's first computer bug was recorded. But this was no ordinary ‘software bug’. It was a real-life moth that was causing the issues with the computer’s hardware.

This “first actual case of bug being found" was recorded by computer scientist Grace Hopper. After her colleagues at Harvard opened-up some hardware to try and discover what was causing errors in the computer, they were surprised to find the insect trapped in a relay. They literally had to ‘de-bug’ the machine to fix the problem, and the infamous moth was sellotaped into Hopper’s diary. Who knew a moth could cause so much trouble?!