Margaret Hamilton, pioneering Apollo software engineer, dies at 90

Margaret Hamilton, the pioneering computer scientist who led development of onboard flight software for NASA’s Apollo missions, died Sept. 30 at age 90, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced.

Hamilton joined MIT in 1959, initially programming weather-prediction models with meteorologist Edward Lorenz. She later worked at MIT Lincoln Laboratory on software for the SAGE air-defense system before joining the Apollo program as its first programmer and the first woman hired for the software effort.

As head of the Software Engineering Division at MIT’s Instrumentation Laboratory, Hamilton led the team responsible for writing and testing the Apollo spacecraft’s in-flight software. During Apollo 11’s descent to the Moon in 1969, the onboard computer became overloaded and issued alarms. Priority-driven software developed by Hamilton’s team dropped less important tasks while preserving those needed for landing, allowing astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to continue their descent.

Hamilton worked at MIT until the mid-1970s and later founded software companies, including Hamilton Technologies. She authored more than 130 publications and helped establish software engineering as a distinct discipline.

President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016 for her contributions to computing and space exploration. According to MIT, Hamilton is survived by her daughter, son-in-law, two grandsons and four great-grandchildren.