Margaret Hamilton, a pioneer who helped define the field of software engineering and guided the creation of flight software for NASA's Apollo missions, died last week at age 90.
Hamilton received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016. The following year, she was included as a minifigure in the "Women of NASA" LEGO set, joining astronauts Mae Jemison and Sally Ride.
Olivier de Weck, interim head of the MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, described Hamilton as a figure who was ahead of her time. De Weck noted that she worked when the discipline was in its early stages, developing advanced code and leading a team to build one of humanity's most complex systems. He added that Hamilton was a fundamental contributor to the success of the Apollo program, which he cited as a testament to collaboration and ingenuity.
Born in 1936 in Paoli, Indiana, Hamilton graduated from Earlham College in 1958 with a mathematics degree and a philosophy minor. The minor honored her father, a poet, and her grandfather, a headmaster. She married James Cox Hamilton that same year.
The couple had planned for Hamilton to work until her husband completed his law degree. He then intended to support her through graduate school to earn a PhD in mathematics.