[14] The SAGE Project was an extension of Project Whirlwind, started by MIT to create a computer system that could predict weather systems and track their movements using simulators. [66], She met her first husband, James Cox Hamilton,[80] in the mid-1950s while attending college. Among them, there were 6 in which the man stepped on the floor of the Moon. The company was developed around the Universal Language of Software Design Systems. Coming up with solutions and new ideas was an adventure. 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. On April 28, 2017, she received the Computer History Museum Fellow Award, which honors exceptional men and women whose computing ideas have changed the world. Qualification: BA in Mathematics with a Minor in Philosophy, College: Earlham College, University of Michigan, Profession: Computer Scientist, Systems Engineer and Business Owner, Known For: Director of the Software Engineering Division of the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory, which developed On-board Flight Software for NASAs Apollo Space Program, James Cox Hamilton; (m. 1958; div. CAPE ISLAND Tour boat operators sometimes entertained their passengers by referring to Cape Island as "Witch's Island." That's because the primary resident there, during summers from 1961 to 1985, was Margaret Hamilton, the actor who played the Wicked Witch of the West and Elmira Gulch in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.. "Hamilton was honored by NASA in 2003, when she was presented a special award recognizing the value of her innovations in the Apollo software development," NASA wrote in 2016. We have a full Biography, Photos, Theatre Credits, and more! NY 10036. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Copyright 2018-2023, All Rights Reserved Super Stars Bio. ], She married Paul Boynton Meserve on June 13, 1931, and made her debut on the New York City stage the following year. She later attended Hathaway Brown School in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and practiced acting doing children's theater while a Junior League of Cleveland member. MIT Museum: Margaret Hamilton Apollo Photos. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. A brief history of the famous 1969 photo of the software that sent humans to the Moon. She loved and doted upon children all her life. For her work, she was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016. There was no second chance. Zack, Suzanne. The company was developed around the Universal Systems Language (USL) and its associated automated environment, the 001 Tool Suite, based on her paradigm of development before the fact for systems design and software development.[32][51][52]. [81][80] She briefly taught high school mathematics and French at a public school in Boston, Indiana. 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. The computer (or rather the software in it) was smart enough to recognize that it was being asked to perform more tasks than it should be performing. Phil Davis The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. UConnToday, 23 April 2013. Biography of Margaret Hamilton, American scientist, notable computer scientist who worked at NASA in support of Apollo missions. "The NASA Heritage of Creativity." [Related: Apollo Coder and 'Apollo 13' Actor Receive Presidential Medals of Freedom]. Margaret Hamilton was born on August 17, 1936. 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. In 2019, she was awarded the Intrepid Lifetime Achievement Award. [24] She worked to gain hands-on experience during a time when computer science courses were uncommon and software engineering courses did not exist. American software engineer and businesswoman, American computer programmer, businessman, and philanthropist. In The Paul Lynde Halloween Special (1976), she portrayed Lynde's housekeeper, reprising the Wicked Witch role, as well as introducing Lynde to the rock group Kiss. Elizabeth is also a post-secondary instructor in communications and science since 2015. Mastodon: https://qoto.org/@howellspace. Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Mutual respect was across the board. Hamilton, now an independent computer scientist, described for MIT News in 2009 her contributions to the Apollo software which last month was added in its entirety to the code-sharing site GitHub: From my own perspective, the software experience itself (designing it, developing it, evolving it, watching it perform and learning from it for future systems) was at least as exciting as the events surrounding the mission. She is a member of famous Actress with the age 83 years old group. Paul Boynton Meserve (13 June1931 - 20 May1938)( divorced)( 1 child). Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. For her work during this period, Hamilton has been credited with popularizing the concept of software engineering. [2010]. Margaret Hamilton. Discover Margaret Hamilton's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. Dishonored Lady. However, once there, she preferred to accept work at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), as a software developer. Heres how it works. [13] Hamilton continued acting regularly until 1982; her last roles were two guest appearances as veteran journalist Thea Taft (in 1979 and 1982) on Lou Grant. In 1933, Hamilton was invited to repeat her stage role of the sarcastic daughter-in-law in the Broadway play Another Language for the MGM film version. [19] She later moved to Millbrook, New York. Hamilton had thought long and hard about this. Margaret Hamilton Computer Scientist MIT Computer scientist Margaret Hamilton poses with the Apollo guidance software she and her team developed at MIT. and he said, 'What else? Computer scientist Margaret Hamilton poses for a series of photos with the Apollo guidance software she and her team developed at the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory. five.[28]. She subsequently developed Alzheimer's disease and died in her sleep following a heart attack on May 16, 1985 in Salisbury, Connecticut at the age of 82. [10] She also made personal appearances, and Hamilton described the children's usual reaction to her portrayal of the Witch: Almost always they want me to laugh like the Witch. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. Updates? [36], Hamilton's priority alarm displays interrupted the astronauts' normal displays to warn them that there was an emergency "giving the astronauts a go/no go decision (to land or not to land)". Coming up with solutions and new ideas was an adventure. August 17, 2016. [18] In 1979, she was a guest speaker at a University of Connecticut children's literature class. Armstrong had no time for lengthy explanations. margaret-hamilton-bio-wiki-age-family-net-worth-height-nationality-and-facts.html. New York, [3] She also wrote software for a satellite tracking project at the Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories. They had one son, Hamilton Wadsworth Meserve, whom she raised on her own. The couple then moved to Boston. (196566; Hamilton had been offered the role of Grandmama, but turned it down. Her crisp voice with rapid but clear enunciation was another trademark. She later attended Hathaway Brown School in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and practiced acting doing children's theater while a Junior League of Cleveland member. Margaret Hamilton Storey (July 31, 1900 - October 18, 1960) was an American museum curator, herpetologist and ichthyologist.She worked for the Stanford University Natural History Museum for over 25 years. Everything was done based on codes, so that they did not occupy too much space in the small memories of the computers, which were NOT made of silicon, but were housed in iron cores. Half a century ago, MIT played a critical role in the development of the flight software for NASAs Apollo program, which landed humans on the Moon for the first time in 1969. Profiled in "American Classic Screen Interviews" (Scarecrow Press). skywriting sequence at the Emerald City. [22][16] Another part of her team designed and developed the systems software. For her last stage role, she was cast as Madame Armfeldt in the Stephen Sondheim musical A Little Night Music, singing the song "Liaisons" for the national tour costarring with Jean Simmons as her daughter Desiree. For ABC's short-lived radio anthology Theatre-Five, she played a manipulative ailing Aunt Lettie to Joan Lorring as the unhappy niece Maude in "Noose of Pearls". Her father, Thomas Storey, was the founder of the Stanford University School of Health. A complete set of recovery programs was incorporated into the software. Hamilton, now an independent computer scientist, described for MIT News in 2009 her contributions to the Apollo software which last month was added in its entirety to the code-sharing site GitHub: From my own perspective, the software experience itself (designing it, developing it, evolving it, watching it perform and learning from it for future systems) was at least as exciting as the events surrounding the mission. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. Click here if you want to see this biography in Spanish translation. Margaret H. Hamilton is a computer scientist who was instrumental to NASA's efforts to land humans on the moon in the 1960s and 1970s. [7][9] She cites Florence Long, the head of the math department at Earlham, as helping with her desire to pursue abstract mathematics and become a mathematics professor. Design & Development: In later years, Hamilton appeared in films and made frequent cameo appearances on television sitcoms and commercials. "The award included the largest financial award that NASA had ever presented to any individual up to that point. We knew that. Anthony Oettinger,[53] Barry Boehm,[citation needed] and Hamilton have been credited with naming the discipline of "software engineering". She was contributing writer for Space.com (opens in new tab) for 10 years before joining full-time, freelancing since 2012. She appeared on Broadway in the musical Goldilocks opposite Don Ameche and Elaine Stritch, gave a lighter touch to the domineering Parthy Anne Hawks in the 1966 revival of Show Boat (dancing with David Wayne), and was the tender Aunt Eller in the 1968 Lincoln Center revival of Oklahoma!. Mention the name Margaret Hamilton to a Millennial, and chances are they won't be able to pick her out of a line-up. She served on the Beverly Hills Board of Education from 1948 to 1951 and was a Sunday school teacher during the 1950s. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. From 1961 to 1963, she worked at MIT on an unknown aircraft trajectory tracking project. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. It was a memorable day when one of the most respected hardware gurus explained to everyone in a meeting that he agreed with me that the process of building software should also be considered an engineering discipline, just like with hardware. [23] This included error detection and recovery software such as restarts and the Display Interface Routines (also known as the Priority Displays), which Hamilton designed and developed. She grew up during a time when very few women studied computer science, but Hamilton knew she wanted to write code. It then sent out an alarm, which meant to the astronaut, 'I'm overloaded with more tasks than I should be doing at this time and I'm going to keep only the more important tasks'; i.e., the ones needed for landing Actually, the computer was programmed to do more than recognize error conditions. [25], Her areas of expertise include: systems design and software development, enterprise and process modeling, development paradigm, formal systems modeling languages, system-oriented objects for systems modeling and development, automated life-cycle environments, methods for maximizing software reliability and reuse, domain analysis, correctness by built-in language properties, open-architecture techniques for robust systems, full life-cycle automation, quality assurance, seamless integration, error detection and recovery techniques, human-machine interface systems, operating systems, end-to-end testing techniques, and life-cycle management techniques. [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]. Devising, writing, testing, and testing these routines was quite commendable. Hamilton said: What they used to do when you came into this organization as a beginner, was to assign you this program which nobody was able to ever figure out or get to run. The picture made a terrible impression of some kind on them, sometimes a ghastly impression, but most of them got over it, I guess because when I talk like the Witch, and when I laugh, there is a hesitation and then they clap. She later founded two software companiesHigher Order Software in 1976 and Hamilton Technologies in 1986, both in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Between 1969 and 1972, the Apollo program carried out 22 missions: 19 with total success, 2 with partial success and 1 with failure. Margaret H. Hamilton is a computer scientist who was instrumental to NASA's efforts to land humans on the moon in the 1960s and 1970s. Margaret Hamilton (* 17. srpna 1936 Paoli) je americk softwarov inenrka a podnikatelka. They married in the late 1950s, after she graduated in mathematics. Margaret Heafield Hamilton (born Heafield on August 17, 1936) 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 later years, Hamilton made frequent . This overloaded the central processing unit during the landing, but fortunately, the software recovered in the heated moments before Apollo 11 touched down. With the intention of pursuing graduate studies, Margaret moved to Massachusetts. They have a daughter named Lauren. Without exaggeration, it could be said that the heroes of the arrival to the Moon were four: Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins and Margaret Hamilton. Because software was a mystery, a black box, upper management gave us total freedom and trust. The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. Dedication and commitment were a given. Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 2022-06-01 07:53, By Maia Weinstock | MIT News Office Played Aunt Eva on the radio series Ethel and Albert in the 1940s and 1950s . We took our work seriously, many of us beginning this journey while still in our 20s. Margaret Hamilton Career Profession: Computer Scientist, Systems Engineer and Business Owner Known For: Director of the "Software Engineering Division" of the "MIT Instrumentation Laboratory", which developed "On-board Flight Software for NASA's Apollo Space Program Debut: Film debut: These Three (1936) Movie poster Net Worth: $12 Million Approx Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Had one child, son, Hamilton Wadsworth Meserve, on June 12, 1936. ", Hamilton later left MIT to start her own software company, but her name is still most recognized for her lunar landing accomplishments. Space is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. At MIT, Margaret Hamilton was on the staff of the Draper Laboratory, founded in 1932 by Dr. Charles Stark Draper. Only co-star Frank Morgan played more roles (five) in the film. We have estimated A former schoolteacher, she worked as a character actress in films for seven years before she was offered the role that defined her public image. Cleveland Plain Dealer, September 1958. Check out Margaret Hamilton's Bio Now And it was at the age of 22 that she graduated from Earlham . Her husband is Paul Boynton Meserve (13 June1931 - 20 May1938)( divorced)( 1 child). Even adolescents. We knew that. 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 . Hamilton left MIT in the mid-1970s to work in the private sector. She also published six books. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Hamilton was born in Cleveland, Ohio and practiced her craft doing children's theater while she was a Junior League of Cleveland member. [4] They divorced in 1967 and Margaret married Dan Lickly two years later.[80][82]. [54][55][56] Hamilton details how she came to make up the term "software engineering": When I first came up with the term, no one had heard of it before, at least in our world. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. With the error addressed, the lunar landings for Apollos 12, 14, 15, 16 and 17 were made possible. During the 1960s and 1970s, Hamilton appeared regularly on television. Houston! Hamilton and Morgan never share any scenes in Oz. Managing Editor: Hamilton was a regular parishioner of the Presbyterian church. Margaret Brainard Hamilton (December 9, 1902 - May 16, 1985) was an American actress and educator. Margaret Hamilton had no trouble reconciling her career at NASA with her mothering role. Dedication and commitment were a given. She graduated from Hancock High School and studied at the University . I said to myself, 'Oh, boy, The Wizard of Oz! [11], In Boston, Hamilton initially intended to enroll in graduate study in abstract mathematics at Brandeis University. One of the many contributors to this effort was Margaret Hamilton, a computer scientist who led the Software Engineering Division of the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory, which in 1961 contracted with NASA to develop the Apollo programs guidance system. According to MIT, this was the first air defense system for the country and helped to push forward digital computing in the 1950s and 1960s. Mutual respect was across the board. Margaret Hamilton was born December 9, 1902 in Cleveland, Ohio, to Jennie (Adams) and Walter Hamilton. For her work, she was honored with the Presidential Medal. It turned out that the astronaut checklist, which governed the actions the crew had to do before landing, had the crew set the rendezvous radar hardware switch in the wrong position. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. Margaret Hamilton was born Margaret Heafield on August 17, 1936 in Paoli, Indiana. [42][43][44] It was successfully used in numerous government programs[45][46] including a project to formalize and implement C-IDEF, an automated version of IDEF, a modeling language developed by the U.S. Air Force in the Integrated Computer-Aided Manufacturing (ICAM) project. In 2009, Margaret Hamilton and fellow MIT software engineers described what is was like to contribute to the Apollo missions 40 years after the famous Apollo 11 landing in the Moon's Sea of Tranquility in July 1969. 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. The original caption, she says, reads: Here, Margaret is shown standing beside listings of the software developed by her and the team she was in charge of, the LM [lunar module] and CM [command module] on-board flight software team.. For her work during this period, Hamilton has been credited with popularizing the concept of software engineering. "From 'Kiddie Lit' to Children's Literature: The Biography of Francelia Butler." So I was assigned this program and I actually got it to work. She later attended Hathaway Brown School in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and practiced acting doing children's theater while a Junior League of Cleveland member. After graduating in 1958, she taught high-school mathematics for a short time. [16] Hamilton also served as Director of the Software Engineering Division. Contrary to her character, one of the top villains in movie . [13][14][15] Her work contributed to Lorenz's publications on chaos theory. Her family later moved to Michigan and Hamilton attended the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, for a time. And what had happened was it was tricky programming, and the person who wrote it took delight in the fact that all of his comments were in Greek and Latin. Throughout the 1970s, Hamilton lived in New York City's Gramercy Park neighborhood and appeared on local (and some national) public-service announcements for organizations promoting the welfare of pets. According to Hamilton, this now-iconic image (at left, above) was taken at MIT in 1969 by a staff photographer for the Instrumentation Laboratory later named the Draper Laboratory and today an independent organization for use in promotion of the labs work on the Apollo project.