Margaret Hamilton died at the age of 90 / She led the development of software for the Apollo program

Margaret Hamilton, the American computer scientist who led the development of the software system used in NASA’s Apollo lunar program, died at the age of 90 on September 30. Her death was announced Wednesday by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where the researcher worked for nearly two decades.

Hamilton coordinated the team responsible for the guidance software used in Apollo missions, contributing to the success of the program that enabled the United States to send the first humans to the Moon and win the space race against the Soviet Union.

Born in 1936 in Indiana, Margaret Hamilton studied mathematics and initially worked in MIT’s meteorology department. She later joined the team developing the first American air defense system.

In 1965, she was hired at the Instrumentation Laboratory, the MIT laboratory involved in NASA’s project. She became the Apollo program’s first programmer and, in 1968, was leading the team developing software for the lunar missions. In 1976, she left MIT and founded her own computer software company.

NASA Director Jared Isaacman described her as a pioneer whose work contributed to the first human journeys to the Moon. Margaret Hamilton became an emblematic figure for women in science and was also known for the photograph showing her beside a stack of documents containing the Apollo software code. NASA is preparing the Artemis 3 mission, scheduled for 2027, which is expected to return astronauts to the Moon for the first time since 1972.