The woman who made the arrival of man to the Moon possible dies

BarcelonaMargaret Hamilton, a computer science pioneer who led the software development for NASA's Apollo space program, has died at the age of 90, as reported by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Figures such as Margaret Hamilton or Katherine Johnson, who calculated the precise moment the probe had to leave the lunar surface to arrive in time to dock with the service module, made the arrival of humans on the Moon possible for the first time.

"We were the luckiest people in the world," said Margaret Hamilton about her time as a software engineer at MIT. The goal of NASA's Apollo program was to take the first human beings to the Moon: "There was no choice but to be pioneers," she added. Hamilton blazed new trails in the fields of computer science and engineering over more than two decades—from 1959 to the mid-70s. "Her revolutionary work included leading the team that programmed the first computers that took human beings to the Moon," says MIT in a statement.

"To say that Margaret Hamilton was a pioneer or that she was ahead of her time would be an understatement," states Olivier de Weck, professor of the Apollo Program chair and interim head of the MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Hamilton was a software engineer at a time when this field was in its infancy, and she not only developed advanced code but also led a team that used this technology to create "one of the most complex systems that humanity had ever achieved." Because of all this, the scientist has been "a source of inspiration for generations of computer scientists and engineers," adds De Weck.

A long and distinguished career

Born in 1936 in Paoli, Indiana, Hamilton began studying mathematics at the University of Michigan in 1955, before moving to Earlham College, where she earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics with a minor in philosophy in 1958. Throughout her career, Hamilton was the author of over 130 publications and contributed to establishing software engineering as a discipline in its own right.

Her career was recognized with numerous awards and honors, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, awarded in 2016 by then-United States President Barack Obama. "Hamilton has defined new ways of software engineering and has helped drive an industry that has changed the history of humanity forever," noted the American authorities when it was made public that she was being honored. "Her software architecture has enabled great human advances, after writing the code that allowed the United States to reach the Moon," they added.