In the 1940s and 1950s, Hamilton had a long-running role on the radio series Ethel and Albert (or The Couple Next Door) in which she played the lovable, scattered Aunt Eva (name later changed to Aunt Effie). 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. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Margaret-Hamilton-American-computer-scientist, Space.com - Margaret H. Hamilton: Apollo Computer Programmer, Wired - Her Code Got Humans on the Moon - And Invented Software Itself, Margaret Hamilton - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11), Margaret Hamilton - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up), National Aeronautics and Space Administration. in Space Studies from the University of North Dakota, a Bachelor of Journalism from Canada's Carleton University and (soon) a Bachelor of History from Athabasca University. Discover Margaret Hamilton's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. It was July 20, 1969. In later years, Hamilton appeared in films and made frequent cameo appearances on television sitcoms and commercials. And there's always a funny reaction, like 'Ye gods, they wish they hadn't asked.' [19] She later moved to Millbrook, New York. A kindergarten teacher in her native Cleveland, Margaret Hamilton began her acting career there in community theatre and with the prestigious Cleveland Playhouse. It was her code that enabled the human race to travel to the moon and back. NY 10036. We have a full Biography, Photos, Theatre Credits, and more! Space is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. She later attended Hathaway Brown School in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and practiced acting doing children's theater while a Junior League of Cleveland member. In later years, Hamilton made frequent . Your email address will not be published. From 1961 to 1963, Hamilton worked on the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) Project at the MIT Lincoln Lab,[14] where she was one of the programmers who wrote software for the prototype AN/FSQ-7 computer (the XD-1), used by the U.S. Air Force to search for possibly unfriendly aircraft. Pufnstuf herself being spoofed by actress Billie Hayes. Devising, writing, testing, and testing these routines was quite commendable. 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. Houston! She became very concerned about the role's effect on children, and finally did a guest spot on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (1968) to explain that the Witch was just a character in the film, and not herself. [63] Hamilton's innovations go beyond the feats of playing an important role in getting humans to the Moon. 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. Hamilton next worked at MITs Instrumentation Laboratory (now the independent Charles Stark Draper Laboratory), which provided aeronautical technology for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). A brief history of the famous 1969 photo of the software that sent humans to the Moon. Cameron Diaz Biography, Facts & Life Story, Cam Newton Biography, Facts & Life Story, Roman Reigns Biography, Facts & Life Story, Lindsay Lohan Biography, Facts & Life Story, Christopher Lloyd Biography, Facts & Life Story, Michael Chiklis Biography, Facts & Life Story, Computer Scientist, Systems Engineer and Business Owner. Margaret Hamilton had no trouble reconciling her career at NASA with her mothering role. "The NASA Heritage of Creativity." Elizabeth Howell (she/her), Ph.D., is a staff writer in the spaceflight channel since 2022 covering diversity, education and gaming as well. She soon transferred, however, to Earlham College in Indiana where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in mathematics, with a minor in philosophy. She appeared in The Phil Silvers Show episode S2E20 Bilko Enters Politics (05 February 1957). Required fields are marked *. Margaret Brainard Hamilton (December 9, 1902 - May 16, 1985) was an American movie actress. I said to myself, 'Oh, boy, The Wizard of Oz! Zeitlin, Arnold. [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. Margaret HAMILTON - Scientific Women "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 said. They have a daughter named Lauren. Her crisp voice with rapid but clear enunciation was another trademark. 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. Margaret Hamilton Biography, Age, Height, Husband, Net Worth, Family Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! 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. As a girl, Hamilton loved math and science. Margaret Hamilton was born December 9, 1902 in Cleveland, Ohio, to Jennie (Adams) and Walter Hamilton. 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. The meaning of those almost mysterious codes was available to very few. 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. (Image credit: The White House via collectSPACE.com). By Maia Weinstock | MIT News Office [16] A Republican, she supported the campaign of Dwight Eisenhower during the 1952 presidential election. The Opportunity of a Lifetime. On December 23, 1938, Hamilton suffered a second-degree burn on her face and a third-degree burn on her hand during a second take of her fiery exit from Munchkinland in which the trap door's drop was delayed to eliminate the brief glimpse of it seen in the final edit. [1], On November 22, 2016, Hamilton received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from president Barack Obama for her work leading to the development of on-board flight software for NASA's Apollo Moon missions. We knew that. Hat, Coat and Glove. [10] She says her poet father and headmaster grandfather inspired her to include a minor in philosophy in her studies. Her latest book, "Why Am I Taller? After graduation she married her first husband, James Cox Hamilton, and . This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. For her work, she was honored with the Presidential Medal. Her husband is Paul Boynton Meserve (13 June1931 - 20 May1938)( divorced)( 1 child). Space Engineer and Scientist Margaret Hamilton (STEM Trailblazer Bios [16] She moved on to another project in the summer of 1961, and hired and trained Ellen Fetter as her replacement.[12]. Coming up with solutions and new ideas was an adventure. She is from USA. And it was at the age of 22 that she graduated from Earlham . 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. 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. She led a team that was tasked with developing the software for the guidance and control systems of the in-flight command and lunar modules of the Apollo missions. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. Margaret Elaine Hamilton (born Heafield on August 17, 1936) is an American computer scientist, systems engineer, and business owner. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Four years later, she obtained the Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics at Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana (USA). [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. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Also learn how She earned most of Margaret Hamilton networth? 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. [14] On October 30, 1975, she guest-starred on the radio revival series CBS Radio Mystery Theater. By 1968, she was in charge of all Command Module software, which was all the software for navigation and lunar landing guidance. It meant that if Aldrin, say, hit a button on the priority display too quickly, he might still get a "normal" response. "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. [2], Margaret Elaine Heafield was born August 17, 1936, in Paoli, Indiana,[3] to Kenneth Heafield and Ruth Esther Heafield (ne Partington). Credit: Deansfa Marriage and family of Margaret Hamilton [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. Heres how it works. Hamilton was born in Cleveland, Ohio and practiced her craft doing children's theater while she was a Junior League of Cleveland member. By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. "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. UConnToday, 23 April 2013. [16][18] These made her code incredibly reliable because they helped programmers identify and fix anomalies before they became major problems.[26]. [59] Over time the term "software engineering" gained the same respect as any other technical discipline. 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. Armstrong had no time for lengthy explanations. American software engineer and businesswoman, American computer programmer, businessman, and philanthropist. Margaret Hamilton, Software Engineer Who Landed NASA's - Medium 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. 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 . Margaret Hamilton - Biography - IMDb Wizard of Oz 'witch' loved her Maine island - The Working Waterfront Early life [ edit] (196566; Hamilton had been offered the role of Grandmama, but turned it down. [3] She also wrote software for a satellite tracking project at the Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories. In 2009, she received the Outstanding Alumni Award by. Margaret Hamilton Bio, Wiki, Age, Family, Net worth, Height It does not store any personal data. Margaret Hamilton - Wikipedie Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. Biography:Margaret Hamilton (software engineer) - HandWiki ", is co-written with astronaut Dave Williams. [16] Hamilton also served as Director of the Software Engineering Division. and he said 'Maggie, they want you to play a part on the Wizard.' Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 2022-06-01 07:53, By Maia Weinstock | MIT News Office Paul Boynton Meserve (13 June1931 - 20 May1938)( divorced)( 1 child). Opposite Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, she played a heavily made-up witch in Comin' Round the Mountain, where her character and Costello go toe-to-toe with voodoo dolls made of each other. Anthony Oettinger,[53] Barry Boehm,[citation needed] and Hamilton have been credited with naming the discipline of "software engineering". 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. 1. The pipe exploded on the third take of the scene. 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. [48] Others have used HOS to formalize the semantics of linguistic quantifiers,[49] and to formalize the design of reliable real-time embedded systems. Had one child, son, Hamilton Wadsworth Meserve, on June 12, 1936. 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. We took our work seriously, many of us beginning this journey while still in our 20s. Four years later, she obtained the Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics at Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana (USA). It is ironic that her performance as the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz (1939) was so scary to children, because her first job was as a kindergarten teacher. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Discover today's celebrity birthdays and explore famous people who share your birthday. The contract was awarded just weeks before then-President John F. Kennedy announced that he planned to have humans on the moon by the end of the decade. [22][16] Another part of her team designed and developed the systems software. However, once there, she preferred to accept work at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), as a software developer. There was no second chance. [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. [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. This page was last edited on 26 February 2023, at 16:40. While her acting career developed, her marriage began to fail; the couple divorced in 1938. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. As Neil Armstrong was already preparing to bring the ship down, the computer started displaying two errors: error 1201 and error 1202. margaret-hamilton-bio-wiki-age-family-net-worth-height-nationality-and-facts.html. They married in the late 1950s, after she graduated in mathematics. 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. Margaret Hamilton - Biography, Height & Life Story - Super Stars Bio [20] Hamilton's team was responsible for developing in-flight software,[21] which included algorithms designed by various senior scientists for the Apollo command module, Apollo lunar module, and the subsequent Skylab. 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. There was no second chance. Hamilton was the recipient of various honours, including NASAs Exceptional Space Act Award (2003). 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. Her name was clearly visible when the entire Apollo 11 source code was released on GitHub in 2016; according to MIT, the first full line of the software read, "SUBMITTED: MARGARET H. HAMILTON DATE: 28 MAR 69 / M.H.HAMILTON, COLOSSUS PROGRAMMING LEADER / APOLLO GUIDANCE AND NAVIGATION.". [11], In Boston, Hamilton initially intended to enroll in graduate study in abstract mathematics at Brandeis University. August 17, 2016. She also gained recognition for her work as an advocate of causes designed to benefit children and animals and retained a lifelong commitment to public education. [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. Apollo 9 tested out the lunar module and command module together in Earth orbit for the first time, and then the two spacecraft were tested again in lunar orbit for Apollo 10. Hamilton's line from The Wizard of Oz "I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too!" Margaret Hamilton was born on August 17, 1936. In reality, she cared deeply about children, frequently giving to charitable organizations. Omissions? Quote her most famous line, however, and watch their eyes blink awake with recognition: "I'll get you my pretty! She served on the Beverly Hills Board of Education from 1948 to 1951 and was a Sunday school teacher during the 1950s. And I asked him what part, and he said, 'The Witch,' and I said, 'The Witch?!' Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Phil Davis Margaret Hamilton, the woman who gave the moon to Mankind. Because software was a mystery, a black box, upper management gave us total freedom and trust. 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.[1]. 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. She often remarked about children coming up to her and asking her why she had been so mean to Dorothy. This system played a crucial role just before the Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20, 1969. Mention the name Margaret Hamilton to a Millennial, and chances are they won't be able to pick her out of a line-up. The company was developed around the Universal Language of Software Design Systems. In this famous MIT lab, her team developed the navigation software for the Apollo Space Program. This overloaded the central processing unit during the landing, but fortunately, the software recovered in the heated moments before Apollo 11 touched down. [4] They divorced in 1967 and Margaret married Dan Lickly two years later.[80][82]. [54][60] The IEEE Software September/October 2018 issue celebrates the 50th anniversary of software engineering. Looking back, we were the luckiest people in the world; there was no choice but to be pioneers. (Apollo 13 aborted before landing due to an explosion in the command module's service area.). Margaret Hamilton Biography - Topics referred to by the same term 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. Margaret Hamilton - Wikipedia 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. She spent 11 days in hospital and her legs were permanently scarred. What I do?!!! Her son, interviewed for the 2005 DVD edition of the film, commented that Hamilton enjoyed the line so much, she sometimes used it in her real life. She notably wrote software for a program to identify enemy aircraft. As she grew, she quickly developed a passion for mathematics and decided to work in this domain. mystery guest on the popular Sunday night CBS-TV program. What are the Van Allen Belts and why do they matter? The Directors verdict reached Neil on the radio: GO, Go ahead, free. 2003 Annual Report of the NASA Inventions and Contributions Board, 2003. Mutual respect was across the board. A few months after filming Oz, she appeared in Babes in Arms (1939) as Jeff Steele's aunt, Martha, a society do-gooder who made it her goal to send the gang of child actors, led by Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, to a work farm. [13][14][15] Her work contributed to Lorenz's publications on chaos theory. 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). "It quickly became clear that the software was not only informing everyone that there was a hardware-related problem, but that the software was compensating for it. I guess for a minute they get the feeling they got when they watched the picture. Margaret Hamilton was born Margaret Heafield on August 17, 1936 in Paoli, Indiana. As an adult, she worked on NASA's Apollo program, creating computer programs to guide spacecraft to and from the moon. 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. Biography. She later attended Hathaway Brown School in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and practiced acting doing children's theater while a Junior League of Cleveland member. When I was the beginner they gave it to me as well. [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]. 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. She was Director of the Software Engineering Division of the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory, which developed on-board flight software for the Apollo space program. Margaret Hamilton List of Movies and TV Shows - TV Guide 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. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. She strove to work as much as possible to support herself and her son; she never put herself under contract to any one studio and priced her services at $1,000 ($18,800 with inflation[4]) a week.[5]. In 1976, Hamilton co-founded with Saydean Zeldin a company called Higher Order Software (HOS)[40] to further develop ideas about error prevention and fault tolerance emerging from their experience at MIT working on the Apollo program. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. Until the day she died, she had children recognizing her and coming up to her to ask why she was so mean to Dorothy. "Every time the CPU approached overload, the software cleared out its entire queue of processes, restarted its functions; allowing only the highest priority ones to perform until the landing was completed," she said. They're really scared for a second. She was a distant cousin of Neil Hamilton, with whom she appeared in By Your Leave (1934). [4] However, in mid-1959, Hamilton began working for Edward Norton Lorenz, in the meteorology department at MIT. Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. A brief history of the famous 1969 photo of the software that sent humans to the Moon. Dedication and commitment were a given. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 1967) {Ex-Husband}, Your email address will not be published. Her net worth has been growing significantly in 2021-2022. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". 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. In 1973, Hamilton produced the stage production of An Evening with the Bourgeoisie. She was director of the Software Engineering Division of the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory, which developed on-board flight software for NASA 's Apollo program. 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. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. The man had reached the Moon. Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. Hamilton's plain looks helped to bring steady work as a character actress. In 1960, producer/director William Castle cast Hamilton as a housekeeper in his 13 Ghosts horror film, in which 12-year-old lead Charles Herbert's character taunts her about being a witch, including the final scene, in which she is holding a broom in her hand. She graduated from Hancock High School and studied at the University . Margaret Hamilton is an American software engineer and computer scientist best known for leading the team responsible for creating the software for the Apollo moon missions and Skylab space station. ..and your little dog, too!" The woman behind of cinema's most iconic villains, Cleveland-born Margaret . Cleveland Plain Dealer, September 1958. Her Gramercy Park neighbor Sybil Daneman reported that Hamilton loved children but they were often afraid to meet her because of her portrayal of the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz. 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. more information Accept. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. With the intention of pursuing graduate studies, Margaret moved to Massachusetts.