{"id":924661,"date":"2026-10-08T00:52:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T00:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/924661\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T00:52:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T00:52:12","slug":"margaret-hamilton-apollo-software-pioneer-dies-at-90","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/924661\/","title":{"rendered":"Margaret Hamilton, Apollo software pioneer, dies at 90"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Margaret Hamilton, the groundbreaking researcher who helped create the field of software engineering and whose code helped land NASA\u2019s Apollo astronauts on the moon to win the 20th-century space race, has died. She was 90.<\/p>\n

Hamilton\u2019s former employer, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, confirmed<\/a> her death in a post from the department of aeronautics and astronautics. The cause of her death was not disclosed.<\/p>\n

Related video above: Remembering those we lost in 2026<\/p>\n

It was during her time working at MIT, where she took a job in 1959 and remained until the mid-1970s, that Hamilton managed the Software Engineering Division of the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory. The division landed a contract with NASA<\/a> in 1961. She ultimately led a team of 100 engineers that designed the software to guide NASA\u2019s Apollo missions.<\/p>\n

Through her work, Hamilton is also credited as one of the founders of the field of software engineering \u2014 a term she coined \u2014 by helping to establish it as a professional practice.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo say Margaret Hamilton was a pioneer \u2014 to say she was ahead of her time \u2014 would be a dramatic understatement,\u201d said Olivier de Weck, the Apollo Program Professor and interim head of the MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, in a statement. \u201cShe was a software engineer at a time when that field was in its infancy, and she not only developed advanced code herself but also led a team in using that nascent technology to develop one of the most complex systems humanity had ever achieved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hamilton was honored in 2016 with the Presidential Medal of Freedom<\/a> by President Barack Obama for her contribution to science and space travel.<\/p>\n

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NurPhoto<\/p>\n

President Barack Obama awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Margaret H. Hamilton, a pioneering computer scientist and former head of the Software Engineering Division of MIT\u2019s Instrumentation Laboratory who led the development of on-board flight software for NASA\u2019s Apollo moon missions. (Photo by Cheriss May\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

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