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Margaret Hamilton

Director of the Software Engineering Division, MIT Instrumentation Laboratory; lead developer of the Apollo onboard flight software

United States · b. 1936

Led the team at MIT's Instrumentation Laboratory that wrote the onboard flight software for the Apollo programme, including the error-handling that allowed the Apollo 11 lunar landing to proceed through computer alarms. Is credited with popularising the term “software engineering.”

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What is the part of your job that people would be surprised is most of your job?

There was no school to attend or field to learn what today is known as ‘software engineering’ or ‘systems engineering.’ When answers could not be found, we had to invent them; we were designing things that had to work the first time, and our systems had to be ‘man-rated.’ Many on the team began as fearless 20-something-year-olds. The greater the challenge, the more fun we had. And, yet, dedication and commitment were a given. There was no time to be a beginner. Learning was by being and doing, and a dramatic event would often dictate change.

Recorded Futurism interview, 2016 source

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