"The NASA Heritage of Creativity." While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Besides her work in Apollo, she was part of MIT Lincoln Laboratory's Semi-Automatic Ground Environment Air Defense System, or SAGE. She grew up during a time when very few women studied computer science, but Hamilton knew she wanted to write code. From 1961 to 1963, Hamilton worked on the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) Project at the MIT Lincoln Lab,[14] where she was one of the programmers who wrote software for the prototype AN/FSQ-7 computer (the XD-1), used by the U.S. Air Force to search for possibly unfriendly aircraft. [36], When Hamilton started using the term "software engineering" during the early Apollo missions,[57] software development was not taken seriously compared to other engineering,[58] nor was it regarded as a science. Danko made the fiery entrance to Munchkinland, not Hamilton. "The award included the largest financial award that NASA had ever presented to any individual up to that point. Hamilton made her debut as a "professional entertainer" on December 9, 1929, in a "program of 'heart rending songs'" in the Charles S. Brooks Theater at the Cleveland Play House. She subsequently developed Alzheimer's disease and died in her sleep following a heart attack on May 16, 1985 in Salisbury, Connecticut at the age of 82. "Every time the CPU approached overload, the software cleared out its entire queue of processes, restarted its functions; allowing only the highest priority ones to perform until the landing was completed," she said. Margaret Hamilton Storey (July 31, 1900 - October 18, 1960) was an American museum curator, herpetologist and ichthyologist.She worked for the Stanford University Natural History Museum for over 25 years. [16][18] These made her code incredibly reliable because they helped programmers identify and fix anomalies before they became major problems.[26]. In later years, Hamilton made frequent . Hamilton said: What they used to do when you came into this organization as a beginner, was to assign you this program which nobody was able to ever figure out or get to run. JWST finds galaxies that shouldn't exist! She graduated from Hancock High School and studied at the University . "Hamilton contributed to concepts of asynchronous software, priority scheduling and priority displays, and human-in-the-loop decision capability, which set the foundation for modern, ultra-reliable software design and engineering," the citation for her medal read. Margaret Hamilton (educator) (1871-1969), American educator Margaret Hamilton (actress) (1902-1985), American film character actress Margaret Hamilton (software engineer) (born 1936), American software engineer Margaret Hamilton (publisher) (1941-2022), Australian publisher of children's literature Margaret Dawn Hamilton AM (23 June 1941 - 24 November 2022) [1] was an Australian children's literature publisher who served as the National President of the Children's Book Council of Australia from 1991 to 1992 and as a National Board Member until April 2017 when she formally retired. She went on to appear in These Three (1936), Saratoga, You Only Live Once, When's Your Birthday?, Nothing Sacred (all 1937), The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938), My Little Chickadee (with W. C. Fields, 1940), and The Sin of Harold Diddlebock (with Harold Lloyd, 1947). As Neil Armstrong was already preparing to bring the ship down, the computer started displaying two errors: error 1201 and error 1202. Moore Boeck. Margaret Hamilton, ne Margaret Heafield, (born August 17, 1936, Paoli, Indiana, U.S.), American computer scientist who was one of the first computer software programmers; she created the term software engineer to describe her work. August 17, 2016. [1], On November 22, 2016, Hamilton received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from president Barack Obama for her work leading to the development of on-board flight software for NASA's Apollo Moon missions. She was director of the Software Engineering Division of the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory, which developed on-board flight software for NASA's Apollo program. Hamilton and Morgan never share any scenes in Oz. But a software incident almost derailed the landing, as Hamilton recalled in a 2009 interview with MIT. She lived in Manhattan for most of her adult life, and summered in a cottage on Cape Island, Southport, Maine. [81][80] She briefly taught high school mathematics and French at a public school in Boston, Indiana. [62] Writing in Wired, Robert McMillan noted: "At MIT she assisted in the creation of the core principles in computer programming as she worked with her colleagues in writing code for the world's first portable computer". more information Accept. [36], Hamilton's priority alarm displays interrupted the astronauts' normal displays to warn them that there was an emergency "giving the astronauts a go/no go decision (to land or not to land)". Elizabeth Howell (she/her), Ph.D., is a staff writer in the spaceflight channel since 2022 covering diversity, education and gaming as well. Hamilton, now an independent computer scientist, described for MIT News in 2009 her contributions to the Apollo software which last month was added in its entirety to the code-sharing site GitHub: From my own perspective, the software experience itself (designing it, developing it, evolving it, watching it perform and learning from it for future systems) was at least as exciting as the events surrounding the mission. Her net worth has been growing significantly in 2021-2022. [7][9] She cites Florence Long, the head of the math department at Earlham, as helping with her desire to pursue abstract mathematics and become a mathematics professor. Everything was done based on codes, so that they did not occupy too much space in the small memories of the computers, which were NOT made of silicon, but were housed in iron cores. A brief history of the famous 1969 photo of the software that sent humans to the Moon. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Margaret Hamilton (December 9, 1902 - May 16, 1985) was an American film actress known for her portrayal of the Wicked Witch of the West in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. [13] Hamilton continued acting regularly until 1982; her last roles were two guest appearances as veteran journalist Thea Taft (in 1979 and 1982) on Lou Grant. In 1986 Margaret founded the company Hamilton Technologies in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 2009, Margaret Hamilton and fellow MIT software engineers described what is was like to contribute to the Apollo missions 40 years after the famous Apollo 11 landing in the Moon's Sea of Tranquility in July 1969. Later in life, she would comment on the role of the witch in a light-hearted fashion. City Without Men. Credit: Courtesy MIT Museum Margaret Hamilton's Apollo Code A brief history of the famous 1969 photo of the software that sent humans to the Moon. She is a member of famous Actress with the age 83 years old group. Margaret Elaine Hamilton (born Heafield on August 17, 1936) is an American computer scientist, systems engineer, and business owner. Related: Apollo Coder and 'Apollo 13' Actor Receive Presidential Medals of Freedom, SpaceX scrubs Crew-6 astronaut launch due to ignition-fluid issue, Experience SpaceX's Crew-6 astronaut mission with these amazing photos, DNA from 4 American presidents will launch to deep space, Asteroid Ryugu is rich in organic molecules that can be building blocks of life, On This Day In Space: Feb. 26, 1966: 1st launch of Saturn 1B rocket, Your monthly guide to stargazing & space science, Subscribe today and save an extra 5% with code 'LOVE5', Issues delivered straight to your door or device. [22][16] Another part of her team designed and developed the systems software. Biography of Margaret Hamilton, American Computer Scientist, Biography of Elizabeth Barrett, British poet, Biography of Ursula von der Leyen, German politician, Biography of Isabel Zendal, Spanish nurse, Biography of Sheila Herrero, Spanish athlete, Biography of Genoveva Torres, Spanish religious. The crowning mission, Apollo 11 in July 1969, saw Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin descend all the way to the surface in the lunar module, safely return to the command module (piloted by Mike Collins) and make it home to Earth. Margaret Hamilton had no trouble reconciling her career at NASA with her mothering role. In one of the critical moments of the Apollo 11 mission, the Apollo Guidance Computer, together with the on-board flight software, averted an abort of the landing on the Moon. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Margaret-Hamilton-American-computer-scientist, Space.com - Margaret H. Hamilton: Apollo Computer Programmer, Wired - Her Code Got Humans on the Moon - And Invented Software Itself, Margaret Hamilton - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11), Margaret Hamilton - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up), National Aeronautics and Space Administration. And sometimes when I go to schools, if we're in an auditorium, I'll do it. By Maia Weinstock | MIT News Office Zeitlin, Arnold. and he said, 'What else? In 2019, she was awarded the Intrepid Lifetime Achievement Award. Elizabeth's reporting includes multiple exclusives with the White House and Office of the Vice-President of the United States, an exclusive conversation with aspiring space tourist (and NSYNC bassist) Lance Bass, speaking several times with the International Space Station, witnessing five human spaceflight launches on two continents, working inside a spacesuit, and participating in a simulated Mars mission. In the early 1970s, she joined the cast of another CBS soap opera, As the World Turns, on which she played Miss Peterson, Simon Gilbey's assistant. She spent 11 days in hospital and her legs were permanently scarred. Hamilton never remarried. She was portrayed by Fenella Woolgar in "Judy" (2019). (196566; Hamilton had been offered the role of Grandmama, but turned it down. [16] A Republican, she supported the campaign of Dwight Eisenhower during the 1952 presidential election. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. When I was the beginner they gave it to me as well. Mention the name Margaret Hamilton to a Millennial, and chances are they won't be able to pick her out of a line-up. Margaret Hamilton is an American software engineer and computer scientist best known for leading the team responsible for creating the software for the Apollo moon missions and Skylab space station. For Hamilton, although Apollo 11 was monumental, she relished the challenge of doing her job for it. Space is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. She led a team that was tasked with developing the software for the guidance and control systems of the in-flight command and lunar modules of the Apollo missions. In recent years, a striking photo of Hamilton and her teams Apollo code has made the rounds on social media and in articles detailing her key contributions to Apollo 11's success. [66], She met her first husband, James Cox Hamilton,[80] in the mid-1950s while attending college. Hamilton costarred opposite Buster Keaton and Richard Cromwell in a 1940s spoof of the long-running local melodrama The Drunkard, titled The Villain Still Pursued Her. The studio hired a new stunt double, Aline Goodwin, to finish the broomstick-riding scene for Danko.[9]. She played Morticia Addams' mother, Hester Frump, in three episodes of The Addams Family. When she was studying at Earlham College, she met James Hamilton. Looking back, we were the luckiest people in the world; there was no choice but to be pioneers. In 1939, Hamilton played the role of the Wicked Witch of the West, opposite Judy Garland's Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz, creating not only her most famous role, but also one of the screen's most memorable villains. [81][14] The couple then moved to Boston, Massachusetts,[14] where they had a daughter, Lauren, born on November 10, 1959. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). With the intention of pursuing graduate studies, Margaret moved to Massachusetts. Early life [ edit] !' A few years later, they were reunited on Broadway for the short-lived musical Come Summer. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1998. While a decision was made in the moment to let the astronauts land, Hamilton pointed out that a fault analysis was done to see where the error was made. [7] Studio executives cut some of Hamilton's more frightening scenes, worrying they would frighten children too much. For ABC's short-lived radio anthology Theatre-Five, she played a manipulative ailing Aunt Lettie to Joan Lorring as the unhappy niece Maude in "Noose of Pearls". Houston! UConnToday, 23 April 2013. "All of a sudden, the normal mission sequences were interrupted by priority displays of 1201 and 1202 alarms, giving the astronauts a go/no-go decision (to land or not to land)," she added. President Barack Obama presents Apollo code developer Margaret Hamilton (at left) and "Apollo 13" actor Tom Hanks (right) with the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Nov. 22, 2016. [17], It was her efforts on this project that made her a candidate for the position at NASA as the lead developer for Apollo flight software. In the 1960s, Hamilton was a regular on another CBS soap opera, The Secret Storm, playing the role of Grace Tyrell's housekeeper, Katie. Margaret Hamilton. In 2003, she was given the NASA Exceptional Space Act Award for scientific and technical contributions. However, once there, she preferred to accept work at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), as a software developer. For her work, she was honored with the Presidential Medal. As a girl, Hamilton loved math and science. So I was assigned this program and I actually got it to work. Margaret Hamilton Biography, Facts & Life Story. [2], Margaret Elaine Heafield was born August 17, 1936, in Paoli, Indiana,[3] to Kenneth Heafield and Ruth Esther Heafield (ne Partington). A former schoolteacher, she worked as a character actor in films for seven years before she was offered the role that defined her public image. Hamilton had prepared for just this situation years before: There was one other failsafe that Hamilton likes to remember. Hat, Coat and Glove. With the error addressed, the lunar landings for Apollos 12, 14, 15, 16 and 17 were made possible. In that role, she took the lead on the software used to govern the flight dynamics of the Apollo spacecraft, which were used for six landing missions between 1969 and 1972. Thompson, Arthur A.; Strickland, A. J., (1996), "Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases", Last edited on 26 February 2023, at 16:40, Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories, "001: A Full Life Cycle Systems Engineering and Software Development Environment", Universal Systems Language for Preventative Systems Engineering, A Formal Universal Systems Semantics for SysML, Universal Systems Language: Lessons Learned from Apollo, "President Obama Names Recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom", "Former Earlham Student Had Role in Moon Flight", "2009 Outstanding Alumni and Distinguished Service Awards", "The Woman Who Taught Me Margaret Hamilton MAKERS Moment", "Margaret Hamilton: The Untold Story of the Woman Who Took Us to the Moon", "The statistical prediction of solutions of dynamic equations", "AGC Conference 1: Margaret Hamilton's introduction", "Scene at MIT: Margaret Hamilton's Apollo code", "NASA Engineers and Scientists-Transforming Dreams Into Reality", The History of Apollo On-board Guidance, Navigation, and Control, Keyboard and Display Program and Operation, "Moon landing memories:'Apollo 11 changed civilisation and I had a part in it', "Tales from the Lunar Module Guidance Computer", "Computer Got Loaded, letter to the editor of Datamation", Higher Order Software Evaluation and Critique, "Federal User Offers Free CAD/CAM Software", "And/Or Programs: A New Approach to Structured Programming", "Overview of Hamilton Technologies, Inc. (HTI) 001", "ICSE 2018 Plenary Sessions Margaret Hamilton", "What to Know About the Scientist who Invented the Term "Software Engineering", "NASA Engineers and Scientists Transforming Dreams Into Reality", "Margaret Hamilton: 2017 Fellow Biography", "Margaret Hamilton, the Engineer Who Took the Apollo to the Moon", "Her code got humans on the moon and invented software itself", "Software and a Woman at the Heart of Lunar Triumph", "A moonlit tribute to a moon landing icon", "Honour for software writer on Apollo moon mission", "White House honors two of tech's female pioneers", "Margaret Hamilton Awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom", "The 2017 Fellow Award Acceptance Speech", "Lego's 'Women of NASA' toy set is finally on sale and it's already Amazon's best-selling toy", "Investiture of scientist Margaret Hamilton as an honorary doctor of the UPC", "Margaret Hamilton Accepts 2019 Washington Award Nomination", "Bard College - 2019 Honorary Degree Recipients", "Margaret Hamilton's sister shares her memories as Seattle's seniors celebrate the 50th anniversary of the moon landing", "James Cox Hamilton, at 77; lawyer was quiet warrior for First Amendment", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Margaret_Hamilton_(software_engineer)&oldid=1141753509. Margaret Hamilton, the actress whose role as the cackling Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz unnerved generations of children, died yesterday, apparently of a heart attack, at a nursing home in Salisbury, Connecticut. She later attended Hathaway Brown School in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and practiced acting doing children's theater while a Junior League of Cleveland member. The couple then moved to Boston. Had one child, son, Hamilton Wadsworth Meserve, on June 12, 1936. Check out Margaret Hamilton's Bio Now Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. She knew everything about these vital programs. They married in the late 1950s, after she graduated in mathematics. She was contributing writer for Space.com (opens in new tab) for 10 years before joining full-time, freelancing since 2012. [Related: Apollo Coder and 'Apollo 13' Actor Receive Presidential Medals of Freedom]. By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. What followed next were brief messages from Apollo 11 to Robledo de Chabela in Spain; and from Spain to Houston, where Margaret was; from Houston to Robledo; and from Robledo to Apollo 11. In 1945, she played the domineering sister of Oz co-star Jack Haley in George White's Scandals, comically trying to prevent him from marrying actress Joan Davis, even going so far as to throw a hatchet at her. Play Girl. Barack Obama presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016. She had a small role in the made-for-television film The Night Strangler (1973) and appeared as a befuddled neighbor on Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, who is a friend of the very similar Mary Wickes. And it was at the age of 22 that she graduated from Earlham . On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. On December 23, 1938, Hamilton suffered a second-degree burn on her face and a third-degree burn on her hand during a second take of her fiery exit from Munchkinland in which the trap door's drop was delayed to eliminate the brief glimpse of it seen in the final edit. Margaret Brainard Hamilton (December 9, 1902 May 16, 1985) was an American actress and educator. Not because of his acceptance of the new 'term' per se, but because we had earned his and the acceptance of the others in the room as being in an engineering field in its own right. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. Her crisp voice with rapid but clear enunciation was another trademark. ], She married Paul Boynton Meserve on June 13, 1931, and made her debut on the New York City stage the following year. Computer scientist Margaret Hamilton poses for a series of photos with the Apollo guidance software she and her team developed at the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory. Journey for Margaret. Principal Investigator, Magnetometer Instrument, Cassini Mission, This site is maintained by the Planetary Science Communications team at. She became very concerned about the role's effect on children, and finally did a guest spot on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (1968) to explain that the Witch was just a character in the film, and not herself. [16] Hamilton also served as Director of the Software Engineering Division. A former schoolteacher, she worked as a character actress in films for seven years before she was offered the role that defined her public image. In 2017, she was one of a handful of Nasa women to be immortalised as a Lego figurine .On the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing, Hamilton, 82, looks back on her trailblazing work in. [20][41] They created a product called USE.IT, based on the HOS methodology they developed at MIT. SAGE was soon developed for military use in anti-aircraft air defense. Discover Margaret Hamilton's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. In the episode, entitled "Triptych for a Witch," Hamilton played the title role. [2] Before she turned to acting exclusively, her parents insisted she attend Wheelock College in Boston, which she did, later becoming a kindergarten teacher. The meaning of those almost mysterious codes was available to very few. Because software was a mystery, a black box, upper management gave us total freedom and trust. [59] Over time the term "software engineering" gained the same respect as any other technical discipline. The contract was awarded just weeks before then-President John F. Kennedy announced that he planned to have humans on the moon by the end of the decade. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We knew that. The computer (or rather the software in it) was smart enough to recognize that it was being asked to perform more tasks than it should be performing. Elizabeth is also a post-secondary instructor in communications and science since 2015. Margaret Hamilton Career Profession: Computer Scientist, Systems Engineer and Business Owner Known For: Director of the "Software Engineering Division" of the "MIT Instrumentation Laboratory", which developed "On-board Flight Software for NASA's Apollo Space Program Debut: Film debut: These Three (1936) Movie poster Net Worth: $12 Million Approx Mutual respect was across the board. Margaret Brainard Hamilton (December 9, 1902 - May 16, 1985) was an American movie actress. According to Wired's Karen Tegan Padir: "She, along with that other early programming pioneer, COBOL inventor Grace Hopper, also deserve tremendous credit for helping to open the door for more women to enter and succeed in STEM fields like software. Miss Hamilton Sings 1840 Song at Play House", "Wicked Witch of the West not always a fright sight", "Wizard of Oz 'witch' loved her Maine island", "Actress Margaret Hamilton, the Wicked Witch of the West", Margaret Hamilton correspondence and ephemera, 1944-1979, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Margaret_Hamilton_(actress)&oldid=1138589927, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2022, Vague or ambiguous geographic scope from March 2014, Internet Broadway Database person ID same as Wikidata, Internet Off-Broadway Database person ID same as Wikidata, Turner Classic Movies person ID different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Epiisode: "An Eye for an Eye" (S 2:Ep 35), Episode: "Bilko Enters Politics" (S 2:Ep 20), This page was last edited on 10 February 2023, at 13:49. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. [54][60] The IEEE Software September/October 2018 issue celebrates the 50th anniversary of software engineering. "Kindergarten Lost Margaret Hamilton." Margaret Hamilton was born December 9, 1902 in Cleveland, Ohio, to Jennie (Adams) and Walter Hamilton. (Revised December 29, 2004). She appeared on an episode of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood in 1975 where she explained to children she was only playing a role and showed how putting on a costume "transformed" her into the witch. "[64][65], In 2019, to celebrate 50 years to the Apollo landing, Google decided to make a tribute to Hamilton. It was intended to guide the spacecraft once they had achieved Earth orbit. 2003 Annual Report of the NASA Inventions and Contributions Board, 2003. Click here if you want to see this biography in Spanish translation. She appeared on Broadway in the musical Goldilocks opposite Don Ameche and Elaine Stritch, gave a lighter touch to the domineering Parthy Anne Hawks in the 1966 revival of Show Boat (dancing with David Wayne), and was the tender Aunt Eller in the 1968 Lincoln Center revival of Oklahoma!. [48] Others have used HOS to formalize the semantics of linguistic quantifiers,[49] and to formalize the design of reliable real-time embedded systems. MIT's instrumentation lab received the contract for the Apollo guidance and control systems on Aug. 9, 1961, when the United States had accomplished only two spaceflights both with just one crewmember on board, and both in suborbital space. From my own perspective, the software experience itself (designing it, developing it, evolving it, watching it perform and learning from it for future systems) was at least as exciting as the events surrounding the mission. Hamilton herself specifically concentrated on software to detect system errors and to recover information in a computer crash. August 17, 2016. They have a daughter named Lauren. [23] This included error detection and recovery software such as restarts and the Display Interface Routines (also known as the Priority Displays), which Hamilton designed and developed. After graduation she married her first husband, James Cox Hamilton, and . I was the first one to get it to work. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this. We had to find a way and we did. Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. It was an ongoing joke for a long time. And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com. The Opportunity of a Lifetime.