Celebrating Margaret Hamilton’s Life and Contributions to Software Engineering
The school held a special screening celebrating the life and achievements of Margaret Hamilton, a pioneer of software engineering who sadly passed away last month.
Margaret Hamilton was an American computer scientist whose work helped shape the future of computer science.
She directed the Software Engineering Division at the MIT Labs, where she led the development of the onboard flight software for the NASA Apollo program, which enabled the first human landing on the moon in 1969. She is also credited with coining the term software engineering, helping to establish the discipline as we know it today (read more about her life story on Wikipedia)
There were two short videos exploring her work and legacy, followed by an opportunity for students and staff to chat and celebrate one of the amazing figures of our field.
Videos:
– To go to the moon 2022 by Gabrielle Roberts. The story of Margaret Hamilton, a young woman who saved the Apollo 8 mission from a life-threatening error NASA had predicted would never happen.
– Margaret Hamilton shares Her Story: Software, Apollo, and Opportunity 2017 by the Computer History Museum. The Computer History Museum honours Margaret Hamilton for her leadership and work on software for DOD and NASA’s Apollo space missions and for fundamental contributions to software engineering.
