Margaret Hamilton
17 August 1936 – 30 September 2026
Margaret Hamilton is an American computer scientist who led the team at the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory that wrote the onboard flight software for the Apollo programme. She helped popularise the term software engineering and later developed formal methods for building reliable systems, founding two companies to commercialise them. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016.
Lived at the same time
Well-documented people whose lives overlapped with Margaret Hamilton.
- Adonis (1930–present) Overlapped 90 years →
- Arvo Pärt (1935–present) Overlapped 90 years →
- Asha Bhosle (1933–2026) Overlapped 90 years →
- Buzz Aldrin (1930–present) Overlapped 90 years →
- C. N. R. Rao (1934–present) Overlapped 90 years →
- David Attenborough (1926–present) Overlapped 90 years →
Life events
She had also studied at the University of Michigan before transferring.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgShe wrote software at Lincoln Laboratory for the system's weather prediction and air defence computers.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgShe directed the software engineering division responsible for the command module and lunar module guidance computer programs.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgPriority scheduling in the guidance computer software allowed the landing to continue through a series of 1202 and 1201 alarms.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgThe company developed methods for preventing software errors, based on her Apollo experience.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgThe company built the Universal Systems Language and its development environment.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgThe award recognised her contribution to Apollo flight software.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgPresident Barack Obama presented the medal at the White House.
Source: en.wikipedia.org