Margaret Hamilton, whose software guided the Apollo 11 astronauts to the Moon, has died at 90.
Hamilton, a pioneering computer scientist, led the team that developed the flight software for NASA’s Apollo missions. The rigorous code she and her colleagues produced was credited with keeping the spacecraft on course during critical moments, including the famous “computer package” overload warning moments before the lunar landing.
Her work gave rise to the discipline of software engineering, a term she helped popularise. The Institute of Technology confirmed her passing on 30 September, noting her as a trailblazer who was “ahead of her time.”
In 2016 President Barack Obama awarded Hamilton the Presidential Medal of Freedom, citing her as a symbol of the unsung women who advanced science and space travel. Hamilton began her career after earning a mathematics degree from Earlham College and working at MIT from 1959 to the mid‑1970s, where she managed the Software Engineering Division.
Beyond her Apollo contributions, Hamilton founded several software companies, including Hamilton Technologies, and her legacy remains a staple of MIT’s history. Her family includes a daughter, a son‑in‑law, two grandsons, and four great‑grandchildren. The digital age owes much to her vision, and her pioneering spirit continues to inspire future generations of engineers.
