Margaret Hamilton, ne Margaret Heafield, (born August 17, 1936, Paoli, Indiana, U.S.), American computer scientist who was one of the first computer software programmers; she created the term software engineer to describe her work. In 2019, she was awarded The Washington Award. 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 contributing writer for Space.com (opens in new tab) for 10 years before joining full-time, freelancing since 2012. Storey was born in San Francisco, California, into an educated household. The Directors verdict reached Neil on the radio: GO, Go ahead, free. We had to find a way and we did. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this. In this famous MIT lab, her team developed the navigation software for the Apollo Space Program. The studio hired a new stunt double, Aline Goodwin, to finish the broomstick-riding scene for Danko.[9]. '[8], Hamilton's stand-in and stunt double for the Witch, Betty Danko, also suffered an on-set accident on February 11, 1939. She was portrayed by Fenella Woolgar in "Judy" (2019). [1] Her remains were cremated at Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery, and her ashes were scattered in Amenia, New York.[20]. We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous People born on 9 December. She loved and doted upon children all her life. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. Devising, writing, testing, and testing these routines was quite commendable. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Margaret Hamilton (December 9, 1902 - May 16, 1985) was an American film actress known for her portrayal of the Wicked Witch of the West in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. Her other mid-1970s stage productions, as the producer, were The Three Sisters and House Party.[where? 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. In 1954, she graduated from Thomas Hancock High School in Minnesota. The contract was awarded just weeks before then-President John F. Kennedy announced that he planned to have humans on the moon by the end of the decade. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". Houston! margaret-hamilton-bio-wiki-age-family-net-worth-height-nationality-and-facts.html. Her solution: when you see a priority display, first count to Barack Obama presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016. Opposite Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, she played a heavily made-up witch in Comin' Round the Mountain, where her character and Costello go toe-to-toe with voodoo dolls made of each other. 2003 Annual Report of the NASA Inventions and Contributions Board, 2003. Under her married name of Margaret Meserve, she served on the Beverly Hills Board of Education from 1948 to 1951. On December 23, 1938, Hamilton suffered a second-degree burn on her face and a third-degree burn on her hand during a second take of her fiery exit from Munchkinland in which the trap door's drop was delayed to eliminate the brief glimpse of it seen in the final edit. Social Media Lead: [17], Hamilton's early experience as a teacher fueled a lifelong interest in educational issues. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". (Revised December 29, 2004). 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. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. [14] On October 30, 1975, she guest-starred on the radio revival series CBS Radio Mystery Theater. [63] Hamilton's innovations go beyond the feats of playing an important role in getting humans to the Moon. A Slight Case of Murder. [47] In 1980, British-Israeli computer scientist David Harel published a proposal for a structured programming language derived from HOS from the viewpoint of and/or subgoals. marriedcelebrity; April 19, 2019; Celebrity Gossip; Born as Margaret Heafield, she is an American system engineer, computer scientist and a woman entrepreneur as well. In recent years, a striking photo of Hamilton and her teams Apollo code has made the rounds on social media and in articles detailing her key contributions to Apollo 11's success. in Space Studies from the University of North Dakota, a Bachelor of Journalism from Canada's Carleton University and (soon) a Bachelor of History from Athabasca University. Biography of Margaret Hamilton, American Computer Scientist, Biography of Elizabeth Barrett, British poet, Biography of Ursula von der Leyen, German politician, Biography of Isabel Zendal, Spanish nurse, Biography of Sheila Herrero, Spanish athlete, Biography of Genoveva Torres, Spanish religious. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Copyright 2018-2023, All Rights Reserved Super Stars Bio. The crowning mission, Apollo 11 in July 1969, saw Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin descend all the way to the surface in the lunar module, safely return to the command module (piloted by Mike Collins) and make it home to Earth. and they continued. Margaret Hamilton had no trouble reconciling her career at NASA with her mothering role. What followed next were brief messages from Apollo 11 to Robledo de Chabela in Spain; and from Spain to Houston, where Margaret was; from Houston to Robledo; and from Robledo to Apollo 11. At the time, computer science and software engineering were not yet established disciplines; instead, programmers learned on the job with hands-on experience. For her work, she was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016. Margaret Hamilton Computer Scientist MIT Computer scientist Margaret Hamilton poses with the Apollo guidance software she and her team developed at MIT. 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. [13][14][15] Her work contributed to Lorenz's publications on chaos theory. For other people named Margaret Hamilton, see. A former schoolteacher, she worked as a character actor in films for seven years before she was offered the role that defined her public image. A brief history of the famous 1969 photo of the software that sent humans to the Moon. Margaret Hamilton was born on August 17, 1936. She grew up during a time when very few women studied computer science, but Hamilton knew she wanted to write code. A complete set of recovery programs was incorporated into the software. She was best known for her portrayal of the Wicked Witch of the West, and her Kansas counterpart Almira Gulch, in the 1939 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film The Wizard of Oz.A former schoolteacher, she worked as a character actress in . Design & Development: In the early 1970s, she joined the cast of another CBS soap opera, As the World Turns, on which she played Miss Peterson, Simon Gilbey's assistant. During the 1960s and 1970s, Hamilton appeared regularly on television. NY 10036. It meant that if Aldrin, say, hit a button on the priority display too quickly, he might still get a "normal" response. Credit: Courtesy MIT Museum Margaret Hamilton's Apollo Code A brief history of the famous 1969 photo of the software that sent humans to the Moon. Armstrong had no time for lengthy explanations. She is best known for playing the Wicked Witch of the West in the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz.In movies, she often played older, unmarried women from New England who was extremely practical but did not enjoy jokes. Margaret Heafield Hamilton is an American computer scientist, systems engineer, and business owner. Her family later moved to Michigan and Hamilton attended the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, for a time. It does not store any personal data. She also wrote a program for the Cambridge Air Force Research Laboratory. In 1976, Hamilton co-founded with Saydean Zeldin a company called Higher Order Software (HOS)[40] to further develop ideas about error prevention and fault tolerance emerging from their experience at MIT working on the Apollo program. So, how much is Margaret Hamilton worth at the age of 83 years old? and he said 'Maggie, they want you to play a part on the Wizard.' [2010]. 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. After she recuperated, she said, "I won't sue, because I know how this business works, and I would never work again. In later years, Hamilton appeared in films and made frequent cameo appearances on television sitcoms and commercials. A brief history of the famous 1969 photo of the software that sent humans to the Moon. [38] Paul Curto, senior technologist who nominated Hamilton for a NASA Space Act Award, called Hamilton's work "the foundation for ultra-reliable software design".[23]. Margaret Hamilton was born in 1936 in the United States. Hamilton had prepared for just this situation years before: There was one other failsafe that Hamilton likes to remember. 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. The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. August 17, 2016. In 2019, she was awarded the Intrepid Lifetime Achievement Award. Managing Editor: We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. MIT Museum: Margaret Hamilton Apollo Photos. She appeared regularly in supporting roles in films until the early 1950s and sporadically thereafter. [20][41] They created a product called USE.IT, based on the HOS methodology they developed 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. Her latest book, "Why Am I Taller? 1. In recent years, a striking photo of Hamilton and her teams Apollo code has made the rounds on social media and in articles detailing her key contributions to Apollo 11's success. Discover Margaret Hamilton's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. In 1945, she played the domineering sister of Oz co-star Jack Haley in George White's Scandals, comically trying to prevent him from marrying actress Joan Davis, even going so far as to throw a hatchet at her. And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com. [62] Writing in Wired, Robert McMillan noted: "At MIT she assisted in the creation of the core principles in computer programming as she worked with her colleagues in writing code for the world's first portable computer". 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]. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". [22][16] Another part of her team designed and developed the systems software. , money, salary, income, and assets. The award included $37,200, the largest amount awarded to any individual in NASA's history. The computer was overloaded with interrupts caused by incorrectly phased power supplied to the lander's rendezvous radar. What I do?!!! At MIT, Margaret Hamilton was on the staff of the Draper Laboratory, founded in 1932 by Dr. Charles Stark Draper. According to Wired's Karen Tegan Padir: "She, along with that other early programming pioneer, COBOL inventor Grace Hopper, also deserve tremendous credit for helping to open the door for more women to enter and succeed in STEM fields like software.