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Before Computer Science Became a Boys' Club, Margaret Hamilton Wrote the Code
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Margaret Hamilton (actress)
- Hamilton, Ontario
- United States
- Barack Obama
- Margaret Hamilton (software engineer)
- Indiana
- Neil Armstrong
What happened
Margaret Hamilton, the MIT computer scientist who led the team that wrote the onboard flight software for NASA's Apollo moon missions, died Sept. 30 in a Cambridge, Massachusetts, hospital. She was 90. Her code kept Apollo 11's landing on track in 1969 when computer alarms went off, and she is credited with popularizing the term software engineering.
Summary
Margaret Hamilton, whose software helped carry the first astronauts to the moon, died Sept. 30 in a Cambridge, Massachusetts, hospital. She was 90. Her daughter, Lauren, confirmed the death, and MIT, where Hamilton worked for close to two decades, announced it. CNN reported that the cause was not disclosed. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman wrote on X that her work helped make humanity's first trips to the moon possible. She is survived by her daughter, a son-in-law, two grandsons, four great-grandchildren and three siblings. A memorial service is planned for the spring in Cambridge. [1] [3] [4] [7] [10] [12]
Her best-known moment came on July 20, 1969. About three minutes before Apollo 11's lunar module, Eagle, touched down, its computer flashed alarms numbered 1201 and 1202, and Mission Control had to decide whether to abort. The computer was overloaded. TheRegister.com says the extra load was traced to unwanted inputs from the rendezvous radar system, while The New York Times says some historians blame a switch an astronaut flipped. Hamilton's software was built for this: it dropped less important tasks so the landing could go on. "I like to say not only was it the first human on the moon, but the first software to run on the moon," she told CBS Boston in 2019. [1] [3] [7] [10] [11] [12]
Hired in 1965 as the first female programmer on MIT's Apollo project, Hamilton rose to lead the onboard flight software work. Outlets differ on the team's size: The New York Times, The Boston Globe and CNN describe 100 people, while MassLive and IFLScience put it above 400. After her 4-year-old daughter crashed a simulator, Hamilton pushed for a safeguard that was at first turned down; an astronaut later made the same error on Apollo 8. She popularized the term software engineering to win respect for the work, later founded two companies, and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama in 2016. [1] [5] [6] [7] [9] [10] [12]
Summary written by Vox Populi News from the 12 sources below. See all sources
Key questions
How did Margaret Hamilton's software save the Apollo 11 moon landing?
When Eagle's computer became overloaded minutes before touchdown and set off alarms, her software told it to drop nonessential tasks and keep running the landing. Mission Control decided not to abort, and the crew landed safely. [1] [3] [7] [11] [12]
When and where did Margaret Hamilton die, and is there a memorial?
She died Sept. 30 at a hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at age 90. A memorial service is planned for the spring in Cambridge. [1] [3] [4] [7]
What was the "Lauren bug"?
Hamilton's 4-year-old daughter, Lauren, crashed a command module simulator by starting a pre-launch program in the middle of a simulated flight. Hamilton asked for a safeguard, and after astronaut Jim Lovell made the same mistake on Apollo 8, the software was changed. [6] [10] [12]
Sources 12
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1The New York TimesRead on The New York Times (opens in a new tab)
Margaret Hamilton, Whose Software Guided the Apollo Missions, Has Died
Margaret Hamilton, who lead the 100-person team that wrote the onboard software for the Apollo missions, guiding Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to a safe landing on the moon, died Sept.
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2The Wall Street JournalRead on The Wall Street Journal (opens in a new tab)
Margaret Hamilton, Who Developed Software for First Moon Landing, Dies at 90
She found her insistence on such openness between man and machine put to an unusually public test in 1969, when Apollo 11 astronauts descended to the lunar surface for the first moon landing.
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3CBS NewsRead on CBS News (opens in a new tab)
Margaret Hamilton, pioneering computer scientist for Apollo program, dies at 90
Neal J. Riley is a digital producer for CBS Boston. He has been with WBZ-TV since 2014. His work has appeared in The Boston Globe and The San Francisco Chronicle.
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4U.S. News & World ReportRead on U.S. News & World Report (opens in a new tab)
Margaret Hamilton, Who Led a Software Team for NASA's Apollo Program, Dies at 90
Margaret Hamilton, a groundbreaking computer scientist who led the team that created the onboard flight software for NASA's moon-bound Apollo program and later in life was celebrated as a powerful…
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5The Boston GlobeRead on The Boston Globe (opens in a new tab)
The woman whose software guided the Apollo missions has died
Margaret Hamilton, who led the 100-person team that wrote the onboard software for the Apollo missions, guiding Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to a safe landing on the moon, died Sept.
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6Ars TechnicaRead on Ars Technica (opens in a new tab)
R.I.P. Margaret Hamilton, whose code saved the Apollo 11 Moon landing
Margaret Hamilton, who coined the term "software engineering" and led the development of on-board flight software for NASA's Apollo program in the 1960s, died last week at the age of 90.
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7MassLiveRead on MassLive (opens in a new tab)
MIT trailblazer who helped shape Apollo 11 legacy dies at 90
Margaret Hamilton, a pioneering computer scientist who helped establish the field of software engineering and led the MIT team that developed the onboard flight software for NASA's Apollo moon…
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8The Philadelphia InquirerRead on The Philadelphia Inquirer (opens in a new tab)
Woman whose software guided the Apollo missions has died
She was the first female programmer hired to work on the Apollo project, housed at MIT's Instrumentation Laboratory, in 1965.
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9IFLScienceRead on IFLScience (opens in a new tab)
Margaret Hamilton, The Computer Pioneer Whose Work Was Crucial To The Apollo Program, Dies At 90
She is also credited with naming the discipline of "software engineering," something that took a while to be accepted by the hardware engineers.
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10WTOPRead on WTOP (opens in a new tab)
Margaret Hamilton, whose software helped land Apollo astronauts on the moon, has died - WTOP News
(CNN) -- Margaret Hamilton, the groundbreaking researcher who helped create the field of software engineering and whose code helped land NASA's Apollo astronauts on the moon to win the 20th century…
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11NewserRead on Newser (opens in a new tab)
Her Pioneering Software Code Guided Apollo 11
Margaret Hamilton, credited with popularizing the term 'software engineering,' dies at 90 A pioneering software engineer whose code helped get humans onto the moon for the first time has died at 90.
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12TheRegister.comRead on TheRegister.com (opens in a new tab)
Margaret Hamilton, software pioneer who helped put humans on the Moon, dies at 90
"Forget It" was the name of a small computer program never thought to be needed, which will nonetheless go down in history along with its author, Margaret Hamilton, the American software engineer who…
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