Mastodawn

A picture of Margaret Hamilton, programmer for the Apollo space program, standing next to not one single microsoft error message or bluetooth problem.

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MrAlanCooper 14h ago

@mhoye

In 2017 Margaret Hamilton was inducted into the Computer History Museum's Hall of Fellows. On that occasion I was privileged to accompany her on a private, docent-guided tour of the Museum's public display.

She looked about the same as she does in these pictures from the 1960s, albeit a little grayer; a bright, diminutive grandma.

But she was very humble and human. At one point we rounded a corner into the Apollo section. Prominently in the front of the exhibit was a reproduction of your left-hand photo. Upon seeing it, Margaret stopped and exclaimed, "Oh my gosh! Is that me?"

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MrAlanCooper

@mhoye

As Margaret explained it to me, NASA wanted the lunar lander's actual landing to be 100% automated with no manual override. She disagreed, and insisted on implementing an override. NASA didn't like the idea but Margaret just went ahead and wrote it.

Of course, on Apollo 11's final approach, the lander was headed for a field of giant boulders. Neil Armstrong used Margaret's code to override the computer and manually divert to the actual, safer, landing point.