Margaret Hamilton, scientist who worked on NASA’s Apollo program, dead at 90

Hamilton was a software engineer at a time when the field was in its infancy and led a team to develop one of the most complex systems. American scientist Margaret Hamilton, who led development of the computer system used by NASA’s Apollo lunar program, has died at the age of 90, her former employer said Wednesday. In a statement, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology called Hamilton, who taught at the prestigious university from 1959 to the mid-1970s, a “computing pioneer” and said she died on September 30. “To say Margaret Hamilton was a pioneer — to say she was ahead of her time — would be a dramatic understatement,” said Olivier de Weck, the Apollo Program Professor and interim head of the MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. “She was a software engineer at a time when that field was in its infancy, and she not only developed advanced code herself but also led a team in using that nascent technology to develop one of the most complex systems humanity had ever achieved,” de Weck added. The famed Apollo program allowed the United States to beat the Soviet Union in the race to become the first humans to land on the Moon. NASA chief Jared Isaacman paid tribute to Hamilton on X, calling her “a pioneer whose work helped make Apollo and humanity’s first journeys to the moon possible.” Born in Indiana in 1936, Hamilton studied mathematics before moving to Boston, Massachusetts with her husband in 1959. She found employment at MIT, working in meteorology before she joined a lab in 1965 that was seeking people to develop software to “send a man to the Moon.” Hamilton “was hired as the first programmer for the Apollo project at MIT, as well as the first female programmer in the project,” the university said. “By 1968, she was assistant director in charge of (Apollo’s) Command and Service Module team, and more than 400 people were working on Apollo’s software,” MIT said. ‘Pioneer’ Hamilton was credited with making critical onboard systems more robust and accident-resistant. Her software intervened approximately three minutes before the Eagle lander of the historic Apollo 11 mission touched down on the Moon, overriding a faulty script and ensuring the mission could safely continue, according to NASA. Jerry Wohletz, CEO of the Draper Laboratory — which was spun out of the MIT Instrumentation Lab — said Hamilton left “an indelible mark” on the company. “Through her leadership and contributions to the development of the onboard flight software for NASA’s Apollo Guidance Computer, she helped ensure that Apollo astronauts landed safely on the lunar surface and safely returned home,” he said. “We will honor her legacy at Draper forever.” Hamilton was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by former president Barack Obama in 2016 for her achievements. In 2009, Hamilton told MIT News: “There was no second chance. We knew that. We took our work seriously, many of us beginning this journey while still in our 20s.” “Coming up with solutions and new ideas was an adventure. Dedication and commitment were a given. Mutual respect was across the board. Because software was a mystery, a black box, upper management gave us total freedom and trust,” Hamilton added. “Looking back, we were the luckiest people in the world; there was no choice but to be pioneers,” she said. Hamilton went on to publish more than 130 papers and started her own software companies Higher Order Software and Hamilton Technologies.