{"id":53476,"date":"2026-10-08T11:21:38","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T15:21:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=53476"},"modified":"2026-10-08T13:41:41","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T17:41:41","slug":"margaret-hamilton-rip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2026\/10\/08\/margaret-hamilton-rip\/","title":{"rendered":"Margaret Hamilton, RIP"},"content":{"rendered":"

Janine Liberty<\/a> (Hacker News<\/a>, NASA<\/a>, NYT<\/a>, WSJ<\/a>):<\/p>\n

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Margaret Hamilton, a profoundly influential computer scientist best known for leading the software engineering team at MIT’s Instrumentation Lab during NASA’s Apollo program, died on Sep. 30. She was 90.<\/p>\n

A computing pioneer who authored over 130 publications, Hamilton helped to establish software engineering as a dedicated discipline.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

Moments before the Eagle module was set to land on the lunar surface, the onboard computer raised the alarm. It had detected a 1202 error: The computer was overloaded due to a fault in a hardware switch, and it was possible the system would not be able to handle the complex landing procedure. <\/p>\n

But Hamilton and her team had engineered priority-driven software, able to shut down unnecessary background tasks in order to prioritize mission-critical tasks. Houston trusted Hamilton’s software and allowed the mission to proceed, and two men walked on the moon for the first time.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Dave DeGraw<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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The following is an excerpt from a textbook called Fluency With Information Technology: Skills, Concepts, & Capabilities, 7th Edition<\/em> ISBN 0-13-444872-3<\/code><\/p>\n

At the time of publishing, the Wikipedia page for Margaret Hamilton has an important quote about the origin of the term “software engineering”<\/a>. I was moved by this and wanted to add it to my \/quotes page, but needed to verify the source of the quote. I was bothered that the source came from an interview given for an out-of-print textbook that as far as I can tell is unavailable to legally obtain. The interview is also not published in later editions of the book.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, I was able to find the complete interview and I am publishing that excerpt here under fair use doctrine for educational, archival, and personal informational purposes only.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

The Computer History Museum has an article<\/a> and a full oral history<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n