Margaret Hamilton
MIT engineer who led the software for the Apollo Moon landings and coined “software engineering”
- Lived
- 90 yrs
- 1936 – 2026
- Works listed
- 2
- Software, Language
- Honours
- 3
- Most recent 2019
- Profile views
- 8
- 0 followers
Margaret Hamilton is an American computer scientist who directed the team at MIT that wrote the on-board flight software for NASA’s Apollo missions. Her focus on error detection helped Apollo 11 land safely on the Moon in 1969. She popularised the term “software engineering” and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016.
Biography
Early career
Hamilton studied mathematics at Earlham College. While her husband studied law, she worked at MIT on weather-prediction software for Edward Lorenz and then on the SAGE air-defence system.
Apollo
In 1965 she joined the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory, which was building the Apollo guidance computer. She became director of the software engineering division, leading the team that wrote the command module and lunar module flight software.
Apollo 11
Minutes before the Moon landing on 20 July 1969, the computer was overloaded and showed “1202” alarms. Thanks to the priority-scheduling design her team built, it dropped low-priority tasks and kept the essential landing functions running, so the landing went ahead.
Software engineering
Hamilton coined “software engineering” to give the work the respect of other engineering disciplines. She founded Higher Order Software in 1976 and Hamilton Technologies in 1986. A famous photograph shows her beside a stack of Apollo code listings as tall as herself. She died on 30 September 2026, aged 90.
Timeline
-
1936
Born in Paoli, Indiana, United States
-
1959
Joins MIT
-
1965
Joins the Apollo software effort
-
1969
Apollo 11 lands on the Moon
-
1976
Founds Higher Order Software
-
1986
Founds Hamilton Technologies
-
2003
NASA Exceptional Space Act Award
-
2016
Presidential Medal of Freedom
-
2026
Died, aged 90
Notable works
-
1969
Apollo Guidance Computer flight software Software
Team effort she directed.
-
1986
Universal Systems Language Language
Awards and honours
-
NASA Exceptional Space Act Award
2003
-
Presidential Medal of Freedom
2016
-
Washington Award
2019
Did you know?
-
1
LEGO made a “Women of NASA” set featuring her.
-
2
She sometimes brought her young daughter to the lab; the girl’s crash of a simulator inspired extra error checks.
-
3
The Apollo source code is now publicly available online.
Connections
Related people
Frequently asked
Who is Margaret Hamilton?
Margaret Hamilton is an American computer scientist who directed the team at MIT that wrote the on-board flight software for NASA’s Apollo missions. Her focus on error detection helped Apollo 11 land safely on the Moon in 1969. She popularised the term “software engineering” and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016.
When did Margaret Hamilton die?
Margaret Hamilton died on 30 September 2026 at the age of 90.
Where is Margaret Hamilton from?
Margaret Hamilton was born in Paoli, Indiana, United States.
What is Margaret Hamilton known for?
Margaret Hamilton is best known for Apollo on-board flight software; coining “software engineering”; Presidential Medal of Freedom 2016.
What awards has Margaret Hamilton received?
Notable honours include NASA Exceptional Space Act Award (2003), Presidential Medal of Freedom (2016), Washington Award (2019).
References
- Margaret Hamilton (software engineer) — Wikipedia. Wikipedia. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- Margaret Hamilton (software engineer) — Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- Margaret Hamilton (software engineer) — Hindi Wikipedia. Wikipedia (Hindi). Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- Margaret Hamilton (software engineer) (Q11628) — structured data. Wikidata. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
Includes material from the Wikipedia article “Margaret Hamilton (software engineer)”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. That text is available under the same licence. Learn more
External links
About this profile
- Researched by the TrackFame editorial team; reviewed by Sanjay Sokal under our editorial policy
- First published 4 November 2026
- Last updated
Cite this page
“Margaret Hamilton.” TrackFame, last updated 5 November 2026. https://trackfame.com/person/margaret-hamilton
Discussion 0
Sign in or create an account to join the discussion.
No comments yet — be the first.
More in Science
Science
Katherine Johnson
NASA mathematician whose calculations sent astronauts into orbit and to the Moon
1918 – 2020
Science
Dorothy Vaughan
NASA mathematician and the first Black supervisor at NACA
1910 – 2008
Science
U. R. Rao
Space scientist who built India’s first satellite
1932 – 2017
Science
Tessy Thomas
DRDO scientist who led the Agni missile projects
Science
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
Astrophysicist who discovered the Chandrasekhar limit
1910 – 1995
Science
Satish Dhawan
Aerospace engineer who led ISRO after Vikram Sarabhai
1920 – 2002