Margaret Hamilton, the software engineer who led development for the Apollo guidance computer, has died aged 90. Her work was critical during the Apollo 8 mission in 1968 when a computer error threatened the crew’s return to Earth. The issue, later dubbed the “Lauren bug” after her daughter triggered it in a simulator, was quickly resolved thanks to her foresight.
Hamilton later recalled that NASA had resisted her advice to fix the flaw, fearing extra code and assuming astronauts never make mistakes. The bug was fixed for subsequent missions, including Apollo 11, where her team’s software prioritised landing tasks during critical moments. Beyond Apollo, Hamilton founded Higher Order Software in 1976 and Hamilton Technologies in 1986, focusing on error-resistant systems.
Born in 1936 in Paoli, Indiana, she studied mathematics and began her career at MIT under meteorologist Edward Lorenz, contributing to early work that influenced chaos theory. She joined the Apollo programme in 1965 and became lead software engineer by 1968. Colleagues and MIT professors praised her as a pioneer who helped define software engineering during its infancy, overseeing one of humanity’s most complex technological achievements.
Source: Financial Times Companies · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing