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. Even adolescents. "Everything was going according to plan until something totally unexpected happened, just as the astronauts were in the process of landing on the moon," she recalled. 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. Margaret had already built her resume with several performances in film before she came to her most memorable and astronomically successful role, Almira Gulch / The Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz (1939). And it was at the age of 22 that she graduated from Earlham . [36], When Hamilton started using the term "software engineering" during the early Apollo missions,[57] software development was not taken seriously compared to other engineering,[58] nor was it regarded as a science. The pipe exploded on the third take of the scene. Hamilton's plain looks helped to bring steady work as a character actress. A brief history of the famous 1969 photo of the software that sent humans to the Moon. Her solution: when you see a priority display, first count to [27] For other people named Margaret Hamilton, see. By Maia Weinstock | MIT News Office Dedication and commitment were a given. 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. She also wrote a program for the Cambridge Air Force Research Laboratory. So, how much is Margaret Hamilton worth at the age of 83 years old? Principal Investigator, Magnetometer Instrument, Cassini Mission, This site is maintained by the Planetary Science Communications team at. Margaret Hamilton was born December 9, 1902 in Cleveland, Ohio to Jennie and Walter Hamilton. This system played a crucial role just before the Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20, 1969. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. A century earlier, she had a worthy British predecessor named Ada Lovelace. five.[28]. [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. 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. Visit our corporate site (opens in new tab). 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. President Barack Obama presents Apollo code developer Margaret Hamilton (at left) and "Apollo 13" actor Tom Hanks (right) with the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Nov. 22, 2016. 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, the actress whose role as the cackling Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz unnerved generations of children, died yesterday, apparently of a heart attack, at a nursing home in Salisbury, Connecticut. In later years, Hamilton appeared in films and made frequent cameo appearances on television sitcoms and commercials. NY 10036. She notably wrote software for a program to identify enemy aircraft. However, in By Your Leave (1934), she plays his housekeeper, and in Saratoga (1937), she has a colloquy with Morgan regarding a cosmetic product he invented (with side glances and eye rolls by Morgan as to its effect on her "beauty"). For her work, she was honored with the Presidential Medal. [7] Studio executives cut some of Hamilton's more frightening scenes, worrying they would frighten children too much. View popular celebrities life details, birth signs and real ages. 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. 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. Storey was born in San Francisco, California, into an educated household. and they continued. Not because of his acceptance of the new 'term' per se, but because we had earned his and the acceptance of the others in the room as being in an engineering field in its own right. The company was developed around the Universal Language of Software Design Systems. "Hamilton contributed to concepts of asynchronous software, priority scheduling and priority displays, and human-in-the-loop decision capability, which set the foundation for modern, ultra-reliable software design and engineering," the citation for her medal read. 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. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). We took our work seriously, many of us beginning this journey while still in our 20s. As she grew, she quickly developed a passion for mathematics and decided to work in this domain. 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. Hamilton and Ray Bolger were cast members in the 1966 fantasy film The Daydreamer, a collection of stories by Hans Christian Andersen. This overloaded the central processing unit during the landing, but fortunately, the software recovered in the heated moments before Apollo 11 touched down. Updates? Margaret Hamilton (actress) - Wikipedia Margaret Hamilton Biography, Age, Height, Husband, Net Worth, Family Hamilton has published more than 130 papers, proceedings, and reports, about sixty projects, and six major programs. Hamilton's line from The Wizard of Oz "I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too!" Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. was ranked 99th in the 2005 American Film Institute survey of the most memorable movie quotes. Margaret Hamilton: 'They worried that the men might rebel. They didn't Margaret Hamilton's net worth The meaning of those almost mysterious codes was available to very few. Later in the decade, she was in a little-known film noir, titled Bungalow 13 (1948), in which she again costarred opposite Cromwell. Margaret Heafield Hamilton (born August 17, 1936) is an American computer scientist, systems engineer, and business owner. 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. She often remarked about children coming up to her and asking her why she had been so mean to Dorothy. 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. Four years later, she obtained the Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics at Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana (USA). Elizabeth's reporting includes multiple exclusives with the White House and Office of the Vice-President of the United States, an exclusive conversation with aspiring space tourist (and NSYNC bassist) Lance Bass, speaking several times with the International Space Station, witnessing five human spaceflight launches on two continents, working inside a spacesuit, and participating in a simulated Mars mission. 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. She was director of the Software Engineering Division of the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory, which developed on-board flight software for NASA's Apollo program. In 1954, she graduated from Thomas Hancock High School in Minnesota. [81][80] She briefly taught high school mathematics and French at a public school in Boston, Indiana. and he said 'Maggie, they want you to play a part on the Wizard.' Margaret Hamilton Computer Scientist MIT Computer scientist Margaret Hamilton poses with the Apollo guidance software she and her team developed at MIT. Early life [ edit] [Related: Apollo Coder and 'Apollo 13' Actor Receive Presidential Medals of Freedom]. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. Hamilton was the recipient of various honours, including NASAs Exceptional Space Act Award (2003). When I was the beginner they gave it to me as well. My Little Chickadee. She later attended Hathaway Brown School in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and practiced acting doing children's theater while a Junior League of Cleveland member. The studio hired a new stunt double, Aline Goodwin, to finish the broomstick-riding scene for Danko.[9]. Your email address will not be published. Margaret Hamilton was born December 9, 1902 in Cleveland, Ohio, to Jennie (Adams) and Walter Hamilton. The on-board flight software captured these alarms with the "never supposed to happen displays" interrupting the astronauts with priority alarm displays. We have a full Biography, Photos, Theatre Credits, and more! It meant that if Aldrin, say, hit a button on the priority display too quickly, he might still get a "normal" response. 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. She graduated from Hancock High School and studied at the University . (Revised December 29, 2004). Corrections? 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. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. Because software was a mystery, a black box, upper management gave us total freedom and trust. (Image credit: The White House via collectSPACE.com). The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". We have estimated 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. In the 1960s, Hamilton was a regular on another CBS soap opera, The Secret Storm, playing the role of Grace Tyrell's housekeeper, Katie. When she reprised her role as the Wicked Witch in a 1976 episode of Sesame Street, "the show's producers were flooded with letters from parents saying it was too frightening for children. During the 1960s and 1970s, Hamilton appeared regularly on television. Heres how it works. [16][18] These made her code incredibly reliable because they helped programmers identify and fix anomalies before they became major problems.[26]. Margaret Heafield Hamilton is an American computer scientist, systems engineer, and business owner. [81][14] The couple then moved to Boston, Massachusetts,[14] where they had a daughter, Lauren, born on November 10, 1959. She is a member of famous Actress with the age 83 years old group. Discover Margaret Hamilton's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. A Slight Case of Murder. "The award included the largest financial award that NASA had ever presented to any individual up to that point. 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Hamilton also toured in many plays and musicals, even repeating her role of the Wicked Witch in specially written stage productions of The Wizard of Oz. With the intention of pursuing graduate studies, Margaret moved to Massachusetts. Her other mid-1970s stage productions, as the producer, were The Three Sisters and House Party.[where? Snyder, Lawrence and Henry, Ray Laura, "Fluency7 with Information Technology", Pearson, M. Hamilton, S. Zeldin (1976) "Higher order softwareA methodology for defining software". [4][5] The family later moved to Michigan,[6] where Margaret graduated from Hancock High School in 1954. [2] Before she turned to acting exclusively, her parents insisted she attend Wheelock College in Boston, which she did, later becoming a kindergarten teacher. [18] In 1979, she was a guest speaker at a University of Connecticut children's literature class. We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous People born on 9 December. A kindergarten teacher in her native Cleveland, Margaret Hamilton began her acting career there in community theatre and with the prestigious Cleveland Playhouse. 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. Her father, Thomas Storey, was the founder of the Stanford University School of Health. Houston! [1] Her remains were cremated at Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery, and her ashes were scattered in Amenia, New York.[20]. On August 17, 1936, Margaret Hamilton (ne Heafield) was born to Kenneth Heafield and Ruth Esther Heafield in Paoli, Indiana. Margaret Hamilton - Wikipedie And there's always a funny reaction, like 'Ye gods, they wish they hadn't asked.' For her work, she was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016. In 1986 Margaret founded the company Hamilton Technologies in Cambridge, Massachusetts. After she recuperated, she said, "I won't sue, because I know how this business works, and I would never work again. For her work during this period, Hamilton has been credited with popularizing the concept of software engineering. Margaret Elaine Hamilton (born Heafield on August 17, 1936) is an American computer scientist, systems engineer, and business owner. [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". Hamilton played two credited roles in the famous film: Almira Gulch and the Wicked Witch of the West. Margaret Hamilton - Biography - IMDb 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. Although Margaret planned to study abstract mathematics at Brandeis University, she accepted a job at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) while her husband attended Harvard Law School. Hamilton costarred opposite Buster Keaton and Richard Cromwell in a 1940s spoof of the long-running local melodrama The Drunkard, titled The Villain Still Pursued Her. Related: Apollo Coder and 'Apollo 13' Actor Receive Presidential Medals of Freedom, SpaceX scrubs Crew-6 astronaut launch due to ignition-fluid issue, Experience SpaceX's Crew-6 astronaut mission with these amazing photos, DNA from 4 American presidents will launch to deep space, Asteroid Ryugu is rich in organic molecules that can be building blocks of life, On This Day In Space: Feb. 26, 1966: 1st launch of Saturn 1B rocket, Your monthly guide to stargazing & space science, Subscribe today and save an extra 5% with code 'LOVE5', Issues delivered straight to your door or device. The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. Hamilton had to recuperate in a hospital and at home for six weeks after the accident before returning to the set to complete her work on the film and refused to have anything further to do with fire for the rest of the filming. [33] The asynchronous executive designed by J. Halcombe Laning[34][30][35] was used by Hamilton's team to develop asynchronous flight software: Because of the flight software's system-software's error detection and recovery techniques that included its system-wide "kill and recompute" from a "safe place" restart approach to its snapshot and rollback techniques, the Display Interface Routines (AKA the priority displays) together with its man-in-the-loop capabilities were able to be created in order to have the capability to interrupt the astronauts' normal mission displays with priority displays of critical alarms in case of an emergency. "Margaret Hamilton, 82, Dies; Played Wicked Witch In 'Oz', "Ah, The Songs of Long Ago! Her Code Got Humans on the MoonAnd Invented Software Itself Volume One, 1981-1985, pages 360-361. Wizard of Oz 'witch' loved her Maine island - The Working Waterfront 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 program's guidance system. Coming up with solutions and new ideas was an adventure. But a software incident almost derailed the landing, as Hamilton recalled in a 2009 interview with MIT. Her "priority display" innovation had created a knock-on risk that astronaut and computer would slip out of synch just when it mattered most. [63] Hamilton's innovations go beyond the feats of playing an important role in getting humans to the Moon. Biography:Margaret Hamilton (software engineer) - HandWiki [10] She says her poet father and headmaster grandfather inspired her to include a minor in philosophy in her studies. Would spoof her famous role of The Wicked Witch of The West in a 1976 Paul Lynde Halloween Special for television. Miss Hamilton Sings 1840 Song at Play House", "Wicked Witch of the West not always a fright sight", "Wizard of Oz 'witch' loved her Maine island", "Actress Margaret Hamilton, the Wicked Witch of the West", Margaret Hamilton correspondence and ephemera, 1944-1979, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Margaret_Hamilton_(actress)&oldid=1138589927, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2022, Vague or ambiguous geographic scope from March 2014, Internet Broadway Database person ID same as Wikidata, Internet Off-Broadway Database person ID same as Wikidata, Turner Classic Movies person ID different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Epiisode: "An Eye for an Eye" (S 2:Ep 35), Episode: "Bilko Enters Politics" (S 2:Ep 20), This page was last edited on 10 February 2023, at 13:49. ", Hamilton later left MIT to start her own software company, but her name is still most recognized for her lunar landing accomplishments. Margaret Brainard Hamilton (December 9, 1902 - May 16, 1985) was an American movie actress. In this famous MIT lab, her team developed the navigation software for the Apollo Space Program. Later in life, she would comment on the role of the witch in a light-hearted fashion. 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. And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com. 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. However, once there, she preferred to accept work at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), as a software developer. Hamilton, M.; Hackler, W. R. (2004). The guidance and control systems would apply to both the lunar module (which would land on the moon) and the command module (which would orbit the moon while the lunar module was on the surface, then house the astronauts on their journey home.) Zeitlin, Arnold. Margaret Brainard Hamilton (December 9, 1902 May 16, 1985) was an American actress and educator. August 17, 2016. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. SAGE was soon developed for military use in anti-aircraft air defense. We had to find a way and we did. 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. Elizabeth is also a post-secondary instructor in communications and science since 2015. Hamilton made her debut as a "professional entertainer" on December 9, 1929, in a "program of 'heart rending songs'" in the Charles S. Brooks Theater at the Cleveland Play House. Hamilton had thought long and hard about this. [12] She developed software for predicting weather, programming on the LGP-30 and the PDP-1 computers at Marvin Minsky's Project MAC. 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. American software engineer and businesswoman, American computer programmer, businessman, and philanthropist. We had to find a way and we did. [4] She studied mathematics at the University of Michigan in 1955 before transferring to Earlham College, where her mother was a student;[7][8] she earned a BA in mathematics with a minor in philosophy in 1958. 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.