Conversation so far:
What was an anecdote about Hopper?
Grace Hopper is famous for her nanoseconds visual aid.
What did she use for her nanoseconds visual aid?
She started handing out pieces of wire that were just under one foot long (11.80 inches = 300 millimeters)--the distance that light travels in one nanosecond.
Did she use any other visual aids?
she passed out packets of pepper, calling the individual grains of ground pepper picoseconds.

Question: What was this trying to show?
Self-contained rewrite: What was passing out packets of pepper by Grace Hopper trying to show?