Margaret Hamilton has died at age 90
Don’t mistake the name, this is not the actress who portrayed the Wicked Witch of the West, but the pioneering computer scientist who led the core software team for the Apollo moon landing in 1969. She deserves to be remembered as one of the founders of the computer revolution and of the art and science of software engineering, a term she herself invented.
I just wanted to remember her here.
Plenty has been written about Margaret’s life and accomplishments. This interview from the Guardian was written in 2019 when she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It distills the essence of who she was and what she had to teach us:
Margaret Hamilton: “They worried that the men might rebel. They Didn’t”
Margaret Hamilton shown in 1969 standing beside listings of the software developed by her and her team for the Apollo program.
Margaret with Medal of Freedom (2016) / Margaret in Action (1969). Public domain photos from WikiMedia Commons