# Margaret Hamilton

Margaret Hamilton is an American computer scientist and systems engineer who led the team that developed the on-board flight software for NASA's Apollo missions, writing the code that landed humans on the Moon in 1969. Her software prevented a catastrophic abort during the actual Apollo 11 landing by detecting and ignoring overload alarms, a crisis her team had anticipated and programmed for during testing. She pioneered the concept of "software engineering" as a discipline deserving the same rigor as other engineering fields, and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016.

## Quick Facts

- **Born:** August 17, 1936
- **Birthplace:** Paoli, United States
- **Nationality:** American
- **Occupation:** Software Engineer / NASA Pioneer
- **Category:** Scholars & Educators
- **Also Known As:** Mother of Software Engineering

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Source: https://peoplebio.info/p/margaret-hamilton