Margaret Heafield Hamilton

Overview

Margaret Heafield Hamilton 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. In 1986, she became the founder and CEO of Hamilton Technologies, Inc., in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The company was developed around the Universal Systems Language based on her paradigm of Development Before the Fact (DBTF) for systems and software design. (From: wikipedia.org)

Life Timeline

• 1936 - Born in Paoli, Indiana
• 1955 - Studied mathematics at the University of Michigan
• 1958 - Earned a B.A. in mathematics with a minor in philosophy from Earlham College
• 1960 - Took an interim position at MIT to develop software for predicting weather on the LGP-30 and the PDP-1 computers
• 1961 - Started to worked on the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) Project at Lincoln Lab, where she was one of the programmers who wrote software for the first AN/FSQ-7 computer (the XD-1), to search for unfriendly aircraft.
• 1963 - Led a team that was tasked with developing the software for the guidance and control systems of the in-flight command and lunar modules of the Apollo missions
• 1976 - Co-founded the company Higher Order Software
• 1986 - Established Hamilton Technologies
• 2003 - Recipient of NASA’s Exceptional Space Act Award
• 2016 - Pres. Barack Obama presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom

President Obama's Remarks at the Medal of Freedom Ceremony

"A pioneer in technology, Margaret Hamilton defined new forms of software engineering and helped launch an industry that would forever change human history. Her software architecture led to giant leaps for humankind, writing the code that helped America set foot on the moon. She broke barriers in founding her own software businesses, revolutionizing an industry and inspiring countless women to participate in STEM fields. Her love of exploration and innovation are the source code of the American spirit, and her genius has inspired generations to reach for the stars."