Algorithms · September 1947Gaffe level: Typo
The Original Bug Was an Actual Bug
Harvard's Mark II computer started throwing errors, and Grace Hopper's team traced the fault to a moth beaten to death inside Relay #70. They taped the corpse into the logbook with the note 'first actual case of bug being found,' and handed every programmer since a way to blame nature instead of themselves. Eight decades of 'it's just a bug' started with a literal one.
Source: Smithsonian