Hamilton stands next to a stack of Apollo Guidance Computer source code.

I remember thinking,

Oh my God, it worked.

- Margaret Hamilton

About

  • Born in Paoli, Indiana.
  • Graduated from Hancock High School in 1954.
  • Started out in mathematics at the University of Michigan.
  • Earned a B.A. in mathematics with a minor in philosophy from Earlham College in 1958.
  • Took an interim position in 1960 at MIT to develop software for predicting weather on the LGP-30 and the PDP-1 computers for professor Edward Norton Lorenz in the meteorology department; in which at that time, computer science and software engineering were not yet disciplines.
  • Worked on the SAGE Project at Lincoln Lab, where she was one of the programmers who wrote software for the first AN/FSQ-7 computer (the XD-1), to search for "unfriendly" aircraft; she also wrote software for the Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories.
  • Led a team credited with developing the software for Apollo and Skylab.
  • Began to use the term "software engineering" during the early Apollo missions in order to give software the legitimacy of other fields such as hardware engineering; over time the term "software engineering" has gained the same respect as any other discipline.
  • The CEO of a company she co-founded called Higher Order Software (HOS) to further develop ideas about error prevention and fault tolerance emerging from her experience at MIT.
  • The founder and CEO of Hamilton Technologies, Inc. in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
  • Developed around the Universal Systems Language based on her paradigm of Development Before the Fact (DBTF) for systems and software design.

Awards

  • Augusta Ada Lovelace Award (1986)

    This award is given by the Association for Women in Computing to individuals who have excelled in either (or both) of two areas: 1. Outstanding scientific and technical achievement and 2. Extraordinary service to the computing community through their accomplishments and contributions on behalf of women in computing.

  • NASA Exceptional Space Act Award (2003)

    • This award is given to individuals for their scientific and technical contributions. It included $37,200, the largest amount awarded to any individual in NASA's history.

  • Outstanding Alumni Award (2009)

    • This award is given by Earlham College.

  • Presidential Medal of Freedom (2016)

    • This award is given by Barack Obama, the highest civilian honor in the United States, for her work leading the development of on-board flight software for NASA's Apollo Moon missions.

Photos

Hamilton, during her time as lead Apollo flight software designer.

Hamilton, during her time as lead Apollo flight software designer. Hamilton, during her time as lead Apollo flight software designer.

Hamilton, planning at the Draper Lab.

Hamilton, planning at the Draper Lab. Hamilton, planning at the Draper Lab.

Hamilton, receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Hamilton, receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Hamilton, receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

More

To know more about Margaret Hamilton, check out the following web pages: