Margaret Hamilton, Pioneer of Software Engineering, Passes Away at 90

<p>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. A recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016, Hamilton was also recognized as a LEGO minifigure in the "Women of NASA" set the following year, which included astronauts Mae Jemison and Sally Ride.</p><p>“To say Margaret Hamilton was a pioneer—to say she was ahead of her time—would be a dramatic understatement. 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,” said Olivier de Weck, interim head of the MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. “The Apollo program still stands as one of our greatest testaments to the power of collaboration, ingenuity, and engineering, and Hamilton was a fundamental contributor to that program’s success.”</p><p>Born in 1936 in Paoli, Indiana, Hamilton graduated from Earlham College in 1958 with a degree in mathematics and a minor in philosophy, influenced by her father, a poet, and grandfather, a headmaster. She married her first husband, James Cox Hamilton, that same year, with plans for her to work until he completed his law degree, after which he would support her through graduate school to earn a PhD in mathematics.</p>