Apollo software pioneer Margaret Hamilton dies aged 90
The MIT team leader helped develop Apollo’s onboard flight software and advance software engineering as a discipline.
Margaret Hamilton, who led the MIT team developing onboard flight software for Apollo’s crewed missions, died on 30 September aged 90, MIT News reported. The report gave no details about the circumstances of her death.
Hamilton joined MIT’s Instrumentation Laboratory in 1965, where she became a leader of the software team. By 1968, she was assistant director in charge of the Command and Service Module team, as more than 400 people worked on Apollo software.
Her team’s priority-driven software helped the Apollo 11 computer manage an overload warning during the 1969 lunar landing by prioritising mission-critical tasks. The work was part of a broader effort to make complex software more reliable and able to handle errors.
Hamilton also helped establish software engineering as a distinct discipline. After her work on Apollo, she founded two software companies focused on software reliability and error prevention.
In 2016, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. MIT News said a memorial service is planned for spring in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
