Barack Obama presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016. ", /system/people/detail_images/320_Margaret_Hamilton.jpg, /system/people/list_images/320_Margaret_Hamilton_320.jpg. Devising, writing, testing, and testing these routines was quite commendable. 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. Pufnstuf herself being spoofed by actress Billie Hayes. In this famous MIT lab, her team developed the navigation software for the Apollo Space Program. Click here if you want to see this biography in Spanish translation. [54][55][56] Hamilton details how she came to make up the term "software engineering": When I first came up with the term, no one had heard of it before, at least in our world. Although Margaret planned to study abstract mathematics at Brandeis University, she accepted a job at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) while her husband attended Harvard Law School. [4] She studied mathematics at the University of Michigan in 1955 before transferring to Earlham College, where her mother was a student;[7][8] she earned a BA in mathematics with a minor in philosophy in 1958. She notably wrote software for a program to identify enemy aircraft. "[64][65], In 2019, to celebrate 50 years to the Apollo landing, Google decided to make a tribute to Hamilton. Margaret Heafield Hamilton (born August 17, 1936) is an American computer scientist, systems engineer, and business owner. is 5'(1.52m) . The original caption, she says, reads: Here, Margaret is shown standing beside listings of the software developed by her and the team she was in charge of, the LM [lunar module] and CM [command module] on-board flight software team.. Houston! DAAAE30-02-D-1020 and DAAB07-98-D-H502/0180, Picatinny Arsenal, NJ, 20032004. Snyder, Lawrence and Henry, Ray Laura, "Fluency7 with Information Technology", Pearson, M. Hamilton, S. Zeldin (1976) "Higher order softwareA methodology for defining software". When I was the beginner they gave it to me as well. [2], Margaret Elaine Heafield was born August 17, 1936, in Paoli, Indiana,[3] to Kenneth Heafield and Ruth Esther Heafield (ne Partington). 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. Until the day she died, she had children recognizing her and coming up to her to ask why she was so mean to Dorothy. [14] On October 30, 1975, she guest-starred on the radio revival series CBS Radio Mystery Theater. As an adult, she worked on NASA's Apollo program, creating computer programs to guide spacecraft to and from the moon. She did a stint as a What's My Line? Byla editelkou oddlen softwarovho inenrstv v MIT Instrumentation Laboratory, kter vyvjela letov software pro Program Apollo.V roce 1986 zaloila spolenost Hamilton Technologies, kter sdl ve mst Cambridge ve stt Massachusetts. [16] Hamilton also served as Director of the Software Engineering Division. Hamilton had prepared for just this situation years before: There was one other failsafe that Hamilton likes to remember. By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. Dedication and commitment were a given. She had three grandchildren, Christopher, Scott, and Margaret. ..and your little dog, too!" The woman behind of cinema's most iconic villains, Cleveland-born Margaret . In 1986 Margaret founded the company Hamilton Technologies in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Biography. [16] A Republican, she supported the campaign of Dwight Eisenhower during the 1952 presidential election. Later in life, she would comment on the role of the witch in a light-hearted fashion. NY 10036. It even printed out its answers in Latin and Greek. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Copyright 2018-2023, All Rights Reserved Super Stars Bio. We knew that. She spent 11 days in hospital and her legs were permanently scarred. The computer was overloaded with interrupts caused by incorrectly phased power supplied to the lander's rendezvous radar. We had to find a way and we did. On August 17, 1936, Margaret Hamilton (ne Heafield) was born to Kenneth Heafield and Ruth Esther Heafield in Paoli, Indiana. At MIT she began programming software to predict the weather and did postgraduate work in meteorology. Heres how it works. 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. mystery guest on the popular Sunday night CBS-TV program. From 1961 to 1963, she worked at MIT on an unknown aircraft trajectory tracking project. She soon transferred, however, to Earlham College in Indiana where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in mathematics, with a minor in philosophy. 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. [24] She worked to gain hands-on experience during a time when computer science courses were uncommon and software engineering courses did not exist. Her son, interviewed for the 2005 DVD edition of the film, commented that Hamilton enjoyed the line so much, she sometimes used it in her real life. The couple then moved to Boston. Four years later, she obtained the Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics at Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana (USA). Margaret Hamilton's net worth [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. It turned out that the astronaut checklist, which governed the actions the crew had to do before landing, had the crew set the rendezvous radar hardware switch in the wrong position. [10] She says her poet father and headmaster grandfather inspired her to include a minor in philosophy in her studies. While her acting career developed, her marriage began to fail; the couple divorced in 1938. But a software incident almost derailed the landing, as Hamilton recalled in a 2009 interview with MIT. 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. She lived in Manhattan for most of her adult life, and summered in a cottage on Cape Island, Southport, Maine. They're really scared for a second. She coined the term software engineer because she felt that the work she and her team were doing was just as important and just as much engineering as the other work on the Apollo spacecraft. [10] She also made personal appearances, and Hamilton described the children's usual reaction to her portrayal of the Witch: Almost always they want me to laugh like the Witch. 1967) {Ex-Husband}, Your email address will not be published. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. She appeared regularly in supporting roles in films until the early 1950s and sporadically thereafter. [22][16] Another part of her team designed and developed the systems software. "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," she said. Managing Editor: She strove to work as much as possible to support herself and her son; she never put herself under contract to any one studio and priced her services at $1,000 ($18,800 with inflation[4]) a week.[5]. [20] Hamilton's team was responsible for developing in-flight software,[21] which included algorithms designed by various senior scientists for the Apollo command module, Apollo lunar module, and the subsequent Skylab. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. A complete set of recovery programs was incorporated into the software. In 1962, Hamilton played Leora Scofield, a suffragette who arrives in Laramie, Wyoming, to bolster feminist causes in a territory where women had already obtained the right to vote, in the episode "Beyond Justice" of NBC's Laramie. [4] However, in mid-1959, Hamilton began working for Edward Norton Lorenz, in the meteorology department at MIT. On weekends, she took her daughter Lauren to the lab to spend time with her, while she worked writing the computer routines that would go on the Apollo command module computer. The man had reached the Moon. Her crisp voice with rapid but clear enunciation was another trademark. The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. City Without Men. Hamilton spent six weeks recovering from the incident and refused to do any more fire-related stunts on the film set. Four years later, she obtained the Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics at Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana (USA). Margaret Heafield Hamilton is an American computer scientist, systems engineer, and business owner. A Slight Case of Murder. For other people named Margaret Hamilton, see. 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. I will return to work on one condition no more fireworks!" [7] Studio executives cut some of Hamilton's more frightening scenes, worrying they would frighten children too much. Principal Investigator, Magnetometer Instrument, Cassini Mission, This site is maintained by the Planetary Science Communications team at. Hamilton and Ray Bolger were cast members in the 1966 fantasy film The Daydreamer, a collection of stories by Hans Christian Andersen. Later in the decade, she was in a little-known film noir, titled Bungalow 13 (1948), in which she again costarred opposite Cromwell. Margaret Hamilton was born December 9, 1902 in Cleveland, Ohio to Jennie and Walter Hamilton. 2003 Annual Report of the NASA Inventions and Contributions Board, 2003. 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. Hamilton was initially hired as a programmer for this process but moved on into systems design. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. She often remarked about children coming up to her and asking her why she had been so mean to Dorothy. They liked to kid me about my radical ideas. Biography of Margaret Hamilton, American scientist, notable computer scientist who worked at NASA in support of Apollo missions. This depended on our assigning a unique priority to every process in the software in order to ensure that all of its events would take place in the correct order and at the right time relative to everything else that was going on. Zack, Suzanne. She played Morticia Addams' mother, Hester Frump, in three episodes of The Addams Family. I guess for a minute they get the feeling they got when they watched the picture. [81][14] The couple then moved to Boston, Massachusetts,[14] where they had a daughter, Lauren, born on November 10, 1959. Hamilton was cast after Gale Sondergaard, who was first considered for the role, albeit as a more glamorous witch with a musical scene, declined the role when the decision was made that the witch should appear ugly.[6]. Play Girl. Looking back, we were the luckiest people in the world; there was no choice but to be pioneers. So I was assigned this program and I actually got it to work. At 83 years old, Margaret Hamilton height I said to myself, 'Oh, boy, The Wizard of Oz! Her solution: when you see a priority display, first count to My Little Chickadee. Margaret Brainard Hamilton (December 9, 1902 - May 16, 1985) was an American actress and educator. And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com. At the time, computer science and software engineering were not yet established disciplines; instead, programmers learned on the job with hands-on experience. [33] The asynchronous executive designed by J. Halcombe Laning[34][30][35] was used by Hamilton's team to develop asynchronous flight software: Because of the flight software's system-software's error detection and recovery techniques that included its system-wide "kill and recompute" from a "safe place" restart approach to its snapshot and rollback techniques, the Display Interface Routines (AKA the priority displays) together with its man-in-the-loop capabilities were able to be created in order to have the capability to interrupt the astronauts' normal mission displays with priority displays of critical alarms in case of an emergency. Even with her extensive film career, Hamilton took roles in whatever medium she could get if she was free, making her soap opera debut as the nasty Mrs. Sayre on Valiant Lady, who schemed to prevent her daughter from marrying the heroine's son. 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. 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 In 1960, producer/director William Castle cast Hamilton as a housekeeper in his 13 Ghosts horror film, in which 12-year-old lead Charles Herbert's character taunts her about being a witch, including the final scene, in which she is holding a broom in her hand. She was 82 years old. They have a daughter named Lauren. It is possible to find relevant details of the biography of this extraordinary pioneer on many websites. A brief history of the famous 1969 photo of the software that sent humans to the Moon. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. [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. Garland visited Hamilton while the latter recuperated at home looking after her son. Her "priority display" innovation had created a knock-on risk that astronaut and computer would slip out of synch just when it mattered most. Mutual respect was across the board. In later years, Hamilton made frequent . Journey for Margaret. Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! However, in By Your Leave (1934), she plays his housekeeper, and in Saratoga (1937), she has a colloquy with Morgan regarding a cosmetic product he invented (with side glances and eye rolls by Morgan as to its effect on her "beauty"). 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. She later attended Hathaway Brown School in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and practiced acting doing children's theater while a Junior League of Cleveland member. It does not store any personal data. Hamilton also appears as an unidentified flying witch during the tornado scene, which may have been the Wicked Witch of the West or her sister, the Wicked Witch of the East. In a few seconds he had to decide whether to land on the moon despite the risk or abort the landing and return with the honey on his lips. Daneman's nephew refused to meet Hamilton because even though he understood she was an actress, he thought it was still possible she really was like the character in the movie. [20][41] They created a product called USE.IT, based on the HOS methodology they developed at MIT. For her work during this period, Hamilton has been credited with popularizing the concept of software engineering. 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. )[citation needed]. Margaret Heafield Hamilton (born Heafield on August 17, 1936) is an American computer scientist, systems engineer, and business owner.She is credited with coining the term, "software engineering".Hamilton was Director of the Software Engineering Division of the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory, which developed on-board flight software for the Apollo space program. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. [81][80] She briefly taught high school mathematics and French at a public school in Boston, Indiana. When she was 80 years old, on November 22, 2016, Margaret Hamilton received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, presented by the President of the United States, Barack Obama, for her work at NASA during the Apollo missions. Profiled in "American Classic Screen Interviews" (Scarecrow Press). She helped write the computer code for the command and lunar modules used on the Apollo missions to the Moon in the late 1960s and early 70s. She is one of the people credited with coining the term "software engineering". and he said 'Maggie, they want you to play a part on the Wizard.' The meaning of those almost mysterious codes was available to very few. The character is considered to be one of the screen's greatest and most memorable villains of all time. The award included $37,200, the largest amount awarded to any individual in NASA's history. And there's always a funny reaction, like 'Ye gods, they wish they hadn't asked.' "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. View popular celebrities life details, birth signs and real ages. Space is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Had one child, son, Hamilton Wadsworth Meserve, on June 12, 1936. Played Aunt Eva on the radio series Ethel and Albert in the 1940s and 1950s . Both those elements were crucial during the Apollo 11 mission (1969), which took astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to the Moon. For her work, she was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016. [1] Her remains were cremated at Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery, and her ashes were scattered in Amenia, New York.[20]. If the computer hadn't recognized this problem and taken recovery action, I doubt if Apollo 11 would have been the successful moon landing it was. Coming up with solutions and new ideas was an adventure. The company was developed around the Universal Language of Software Design Systems. Hamilton was concerned with legitimizing software development as an engineering discipline. 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. skywriting sequence at the Emerald City. and he said, 'What else? 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!. [4], Hamilton then joined the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory at MIT, which worked on the Apollo Space Mission. Cameron Diaz Biography, Facts & Life Story, Cam Newton Biography, Facts & Life Story, Roman Reigns Biography, Facts & Life Story, Lindsay Lohan Biography, Facts & Life Story, Christopher Lloyd Biography, Facts & Life Story, Michael Chiklis Biography, Facts & Life Story, Computer Scientist, Systems Engineer and Business Owner. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". When she was studying at Earlham College, she met James Hamilton. Discover Margaret Hamilton's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. The studio hired a new stunt double, Aline Goodwin, to finish the broomstick-riding scene for Danko.[9]. !' "The NASA Heritage of Creativity." Elizabeth holds a Ph.D. and M.Sc. [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.
margaret hamilton biography