The character is considered to be one of the screen's greatest and most memorable villains of all time. [17], Hamilton's early experience as a teacher fueled a lifelong interest in educational issues. Hamilton made her debut as a "professional entertainer" on December 9, 1929, in a "program of 'heart rending songs'" in the Charles S. Brooks Theater at the Cleveland Play House. "Kindergarten Lost Margaret Hamilton." Paul Boynton Meserve (13 June1931 - 20 May1938)( divorced)( 1 child). A few years later, they were reunited on Broadway for the short-lived musical Come Summer. Hamilton left MIT in the mid-1970s to work in the private sector. She later attended Hathaway Brown School in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and practiced acting doing children's theater while a Junior League of Cleveland member. [4], Hamilton then joined the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory at MIT, which worked on the Apollo Space Mission. [24] She worked to gain hands-on experience during a time when computer science courses were uncommon and software engineering courses did not exist. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. Principal Investigator, Magnetometer Instrument, Cassini Mission, This site is maintained by the Planetary Science Communications team at. The couple then moved to Boston. She grew up during a time when very few women studied computer science, but Hamilton knew she wanted to write code. Looking back, we were the luckiest people in the world; there was no choice but to be pioneers. Required fields are marked *. What I do?!!! [12] She developed software for predicting weather, programming on the LGP-30 and the PDP-1 computers at Marvin Minsky's Project MAC. skywriting sequence at the Emerald City. Hamilton, a 24-year-old with an undergrad degree in mathematics, had gotten a job as a programmer at MIT, and the plan was for her to support her husband through his three-year stint at Harvard. She was born on August 17, 1936, which makes Margaret Hamilton age be 82 years old as of now. is 5'(1.52m) . Hamilton was born in Cleveland, Ohio and practiced her craft doing children's theater while she was a Junior League of Cleveland member. Hamilton had prepared for just this situation years before: There was one other failsafe that Hamilton likes to remember. [25], Her areas of expertise include: systems design and software development, enterprise and process modeling, development paradigm, formal systems modeling languages, system-oriented objects for systems modeling and development, automated life-cycle environments, methods for maximizing software reliability and reuse, domain analysis, correctness by built-in language properties, open-architecture techniques for robust systems, full life-cycle automation, quality assurance, seamless integration, error detection and recovery techniques, human-machine interface systems, operating systems, end-to-end testing techniques, and life-cycle management techniques. [10] She says her poet father and headmaster grandfather inspired her to include a minor in philosophy in her studies. Wizard of Oz 'witch' loved her Maine island - The Working Waterfront By 1968, she was in charge of all Command Module software, which was all the software for navigation and lunar landing guidance. In March 1986, she founded Hamilton Technologies, Inc. in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Margaret Hamilton Biography, Celebrity Facts and Awards - TV Guide She later attended Hathaway Brown School in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and practiced acting doing children's theater while a Junior League of Cleveland member. 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. Only co-star Frank Morgan played more roles (five) in the film. She also published six books. We knew that. Mastodon: https://qoto.org/@howellspace. She knew everything about these vital programs. In 1954, she graduated from Thomas Hancock High School in Minnesota. "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 have a daughter named Lauren. From 1961 to 1963, she worked at MIT on an unknown aircraft trajectory tracking project. Mention the name Margaret Hamilton to a Millennial, and chances are they won't be able to pick her out of a line-up. "[13] She appeared as herself in three episodes of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, between 1975 and 1976, because Fred Rogers wanted his viewers to recognize the Wicked Witch was just a character and not something to be afraid of. Dedication and commitment were a given. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Margaret Hamilton was born December 9, 1902 in Cleveland, Ohio, to Jennie (Adams) and Walter Hamilton. Learn How rich is She in this year and how She spends money? In recent years, a striking photo of Hamilton and her teams Apollo code has made the rounds on social media and in articles detailing her key contributions to Apollo 11's success. 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. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. Her solution: when you see a priority display, first count to Margaret H. Hamilton: Apollo Computer Programmer | Space Margaret Hamilton: 'They worried that the men might rebel. They didn't At the time, computer science and software engineering were not yet established disciplines; instead, programmers learned on the job with hands-on experience. Visit our corporate site (opens in new tab). A former schoolteacher, she worked as a character actor in films for seven years before she was offered the role that defined her public image. Margaret Hamilton Biography Margaret Hamilton was born in Cleveland, Ohio on December 9, 1902, the youngest of four children and obtained her teaching certificate in 1923 from the Wheelock . NY 10036. [81][80] She briefly taught high school mathematics and French at a public school in Boston, Indiana. Later in life, she would comment on the role of the witch in a light-hearted fashion. Her latest book, "Why Am I Taller? CAPE ISLAND Tour boat operators sometimes entertained their passengers by referring to Cape Island as "Witch's Island." That's because the primary resident there, during summers from 1961 to 1985, was Margaret Hamilton, the actor who played the Wicked Witch of the West and Elmira Gulch in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.. Margaret Hamilton - Trakt Quote her most famous line, however, and watch their eyes blink awake with recognition: "I'll get you my pretty! 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.A former schoolteacher, she worked as a character actress in . Her crisp voice with rapid but clear enunciation was another trademark. Margaret Hamilton (publisher) - Wikipedia As she grew, she quickly developed a passion for mathematics and decided to work in this domain. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. 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. She was 82 years old. '[8], Hamilton's stand-in and stunt double for the Witch, Betty Danko, also suffered an on-set accident on February 11, 1939. MIT Museum: Margaret Hamilton Apollo Photos. 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. We had to find a way and we did. !' By Maia Weinstock | MIT News Office [19] She later moved to Millbrook, New York. THE ALEXANDER HAMILTON READER margaret esther hall - PAPERBACK | eBay Margaret Hamilton was born December 9, 1902 in Cleveland, Ohio, to Jennie (Adams) and Walter Hamilton. Her Code Got Humans on the MoonAnd Invented Software Itself "From 'Kiddie Lit' to Children's Literature: The Biography of Francelia Butler." The computer was overloaded with interrupts caused by incorrectly phased power supplied to the lander's rendezvous radar. Between 1969 and 1972, the Apollo program carried out 22 missions: 19 with total success, 2 with partial success and 1 with failure. )[citation needed]. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. They were married on June 15, 1958, the summer after she graduated from Earlham. They're scared. Margaret Heafield Hamilton was born on August 17, 1936, in Paoli, Indiana. So I was assigned this program and I actually got it to work. Margaret Heafield Hamilton (born August 17, 1936) is an American computer scientist, systems engineer, and business owner. 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. That has been my favorite book since I was four.' Margaret Hamilton, Software Engineer Who Landed NASA's - Medium She appeared on Broadway in the musical Goldilocks opposite Don Ameche and Elaine Stritch, gave a lighter touch to the domineering Parthy Anne Hawks in the 1966 revival of Show Boat (dancing with David Wayne), and was the tender Aunt Eller in the 1968 Lincoln Center revival of Oklahoma!. DAAAE30-02-D-1020 and DAAB07-98-D-H502/0180, Picatinny Arsenal, NJ, 20032004. "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. She had a small role in the made-for-television film The Night Strangler (1973) and appeared as a befuddled neighbor on Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, who is a friend of the very similar Mary Wickes. For this Laboratory, she developed codes for new programming routines. Margaret Hamilton | Science Mission Directorate - NASA 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. Hamilton was concerned with legitimizing software development as an engineering discipline. Margaret Hamilton was born December 9, 1902 in Cleveland, Ohio, to Jennie (Adams) and Walter Hamilton. Among them, there were 6 in which the man stepped on the floor of the Moon. She portrayed the sister of Witchiepoo from H.R. Guest in the House. 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. With the intention of pursuing graduate studies, Margaret moved to Massachusetts. (Apollo 13 aborted before landing due to an explosion in the command module's service area.). And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com. [33] The asynchronous executive designed by J. Halcombe Laning[34][30][35] was used by Hamilton's team to develop asynchronous flight software: Because of the flight software's system-software's error detection and recovery techniques that included its system-wide "kill and recompute" from a "safe place" restart approach to its snapshot and rollback techniques, the Display Interface Routines (AKA the priority displays) together with its man-in-the-loop capabilities were able to be created in order to have the capability to interrupt the astronauts' normal mission displays with priority displays of critical alarms in case of an emergency. 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. Pufnstuf herself being spoofed by actress Billie Hayes. 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. As an adult, she worked on NASA's Apollo program, creating computer programs to guide spacecraft to and from the moon. It is possible to find relevant details of the biography of this extraordinary pioneer on many websites. Because software was a mystery, a black box, upper management gave us total freedom and trust. In the episode, entitled "Triptych for a Witch," Hamilton played the title role. Armstrong had no time for lengthy explanations. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. She helped write the computer code for the command and lunar modules used on the Apollo missions to the Moon in the late 1960s and early 70s. Margaret Hamilton (educator) (1871-1969), American educator Margaret Hamilton (actress) (1902-1985), American film character actress Margaret Hamilton (software engineer) (born 1936), American software engineer Margaret Hamilton (publisher) (1941-2022), Australian publisher of children's literature Discover Margaret Hamilton's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. I will return to work on one condition no more fireworks!" During the 1960s and 1970s, Hamilton appeared regularly on television. 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. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1998. 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. Hamilton was a regular parishioner of the Presbyterian church. In one of the critical moments of the Apollo 11 mission, the Apollo Guidance Computer, together with the on-board flight software, averted an abort of the landing on the Moon. Margaret Hamilton was born Margaret Heafield on August 17, 1936 in Paoli, Indiana. Although Margaret planned to study abstract mathematics at Brandeis University, she accepted a job at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) while her husband attended Harvard Law School. Hamilton's plain looks helped to bring steady work as a character actress. 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 later attended Hathaway Brown School in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and practiced acting doing children's theater while a Junior League of Cleveland member. As the alarms went off and priority displays replaced normal ones, the actual switchover to new programmes behind the screens was happening "a step slower" than it would today. Her "priority display" innovation had created a knock-on risk that astronaut and computer would slip out of synch just when it mattered most. We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous People born on 9 December. And it was at the age of 22 that she graduated from Earlham . [7] Studio executives cut some of Hamilton's more frightening scenes, worrying they would frighten children too much. This overloaded the central processing unit during the landing, but fortunately, the software recovered in the heated moments before Apollo 11 touched down. (196566; Hamilton had been offered the role of Grandmama, but turned it down. 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. Margaret Hamilton | Biography & Facts | Britannica We had to find a way and we did. Corrections? August 17, 2016. In later years, Hamilton made frequent . This system played a crucial role just before the Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20, 1969. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". Even adolescents. She later attended Hathaway Brown School in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and practiced acting doing children's theater while a Junior League of Cleveland member. It meant that if Aldrin, say, hit a button on the priority display too quickly, he might still get a "normal" response. Early life [ edit] 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. If the latter case, this would be Hamilton's third but uncredited role. And what had happened was it was tricky programming, and the person who wrote it took delight in the fact that all of his comments were in Greek and Latin. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. In 2009, she received the Outstanding Alumni Award by. She later attended Hathaway Brown School in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and practiced acting doing children's theater while a Junior League of Cleveland member. five.[28]. At MIT she began programming software to predict the weather and did postgraduate work in meteorology. Her husband is 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. Margaret Hamilton: Credits, Bio, News & More | Broadway World Margaret Hamilton Biography, Age, Height, Husband, Net Worth, Family View popular celebrities life details, birth signs and real ages. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. [2] Before she turned to acting exclusively, her parents insisted she attend Wheelock College in Boston, which she did, later becoming a kindergarten teacher. Hamilton, M.; Hackler, W. R. (2004). The on-board flight software captured these alarms with the "never supposed to happen displays" interrupting the astronauts with priority alarm displays. She was portrayed by Fenella Woolgar in "Judy" (2019). and they continued. It even printed out its answers in Latin and Greek. Bill Dunford She was Director of the Software Engineering Division of the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory, which developed on-board flight software for the Apollo space program. A brief history of the famous 1969 photo of the software that sent 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. I said, 'Yes?' Under her married name of Margaret Meserve, she served on the Beverly Hills Board of Education from 1948 to 1951. Looking back, we were the luckiest people in the world; there was no choice but to be pioneers. Garland visited Hamilton while the latter recuperated at home looking after her son. 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. Margaret Elaine Hamilton (born Heafield on August 17, 1936) is an American computer scientist, systems engineer, and business owner. The Directors verdict reached Neil on the radio: GO, Go ahead, free. She did a stint as a What's My Line? Starred in the live on-stage musical "A Little Night Music" (with actress Jean Simmons in the lead role) during the mid-1970s in San Francisco. 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. [22][16] Another part of her team designed and developed the systems software. Her family later moved to Michigan and Hamilton attended the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, for a time. (Image credit: The White House via collectSPACE.com). 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. "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. In reality, she cared deeply about children, frequently giving to charitable organizations. Mutual respect was across the board. , money, salary, income, and assets. Margaret Hamilton - Wikipedia Margaret Hamilton, the woman who gave the moon to Mankind. This brilliant mathematician, systems engineer, and computational scientist, was Director of the Software Engineering Division of the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory. [13] Hamilton continued acting regularly until 1982; her last roles were two guest appearances as veteran journalist Thea Taft (in 1979 and 1982) on Lou Grant. In addition to requiring a deep understanding of computers, it was not easy to write just over 400,000 lines of code that were inserted into the operating system of the lunar module in the Apollo missions. Click here if you want to see this biography in Spanish translation. [61] Hamilton talks about "Errors" and how they influenced her work related to software engineering and how her language, USL, could be used to prevent the majority of "Errors" in a system. One of the many contributors to this effort was Margaret Hamilton, a computer scientist who led the Software Engineering Division of the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory, which in 1961 contracted with NASA to develop the Apollo programs guidance system. We have estimated 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. She studied mathematics at the University of Michigan in the 1950s and later earned a BA in mathematics with a minor in philosophy from Earlham College in 1958. Anthony Oettinger,[53] Barry Boehm,[citation needed] and Hamilton have been credited with naming the discipline of "software engineering". [62] Writing in Wired, Robert McMillan noted: "At MIT she assisted in the creation of the core principles in computer programming as she worked with her colleagues in writing code for the world's first portable computer". Margaret Hamilton, ne Margaret Heafield, (born August 17, 1936, Paoli, Indiana, U.S.), American computer scientist who was one of the first computer software programmers; she created the term software engineer to describe her work. 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. Also learn how She earned most of Margaret Hamilton networth? [Related: Apollo Coder and 'Apollo 13' Actor Receive Presidential Medals of Freedom]. [3], Hamilton made her screen debut in the MGM film Another Language (1933) starring Helen Hayes and Robert Montgomery. [81][14] The couple then moved to Boston, Massachusetts,[14] where they had a daughter, Lauren, born on November 10, 1959. Had one child, son, Hamilton Wadsworth Meserve, on June 12, 1936. Space is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Credit: Deansfa Marriage and family of Margaret Hamilton In those years, there were no programming languages like at the end of the 20th century. No Choice But to Be a Pioneer: The Story of Margaret Hamilton Discover today's celebrity birthdays and explore famous people who share your birthday. [37] Jack Garman, a NASA computer engineer in mission control, recognized the meaning of the errors that were presented to the astronauts by the priority displays and shouted, "Go, go!" For her work, she was honored with the Presidential Medal. 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. They're clapping at hearing the sound again.[11]. And there's always a funny reaction, like 'Ye gods, they wish they hadn't asked.' It does not store any personal data. In 1933, Hamilton was invited to repeat her stage role of the sarcastic daughter-in-law in the Broadway play Another Language for the MGM film version. [27] UConnToday, 23 April 2013. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Margaret Hamilton Bio, Wiki, Age, Family, Net worth, Height Elizabeth Howell (she/her), Ph.D., is a staff writer in the spaceflight channel since 2022 covering diversity, education and gaming as well. 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. Biography:Margaret Hamilton (software engineer) - HandWiki [2], Margaret Elaine Heafield was born August 17, 1936, in Paoli, Indiana,[3] to Kenneth Heafield and Ruth Esther Heafield (ne Partington). 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. The guidance and control systems would apply to both the lunar module (which would land on the moon) and the command module (which would orbit the moon while the lunar module was on the surface, then house the astronauts on their journey home.) She served on the Beverly Hills Board of Education from 1948 to 1951 and was a Sunday school teacher during the 1950s. During one interview, she joked: I was in need of money at the time, I had done about six pictures for MGM at the time, and my agent called. In the early 1970s, she joined the cast of another CBS soap opera, As the World Turns, on which she played Miss Peterson, Simon Gilbey's assistant. Devising, writing, testing, and testing these routines was quite commendable.