Margaret Hamilton has died

WarOnPrivacy

Dang. She was a remarkable stand-out, in fields full of remarkable people. The pic here is often people's first intro to her https://news.mit.edu/2016/scene-at-mit-margaret-hamilton-apo...

toomuchtodo

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Hamilton_(software_en... Threads: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...

saulpw

This feels like a black bar event. RIP Margaret Hamilton.

EvanAnderson

There is a very nice oral history the Computer History Museum produced: https://computerhistory.org/blog/margaret-hamilton-in-her-ow... In Levy's "Hackers" there is a story about late night hacking on the TX-0 that fouled-up some weather simulation code an academic user of the computer was running. After hearing this oral history I believe Margaret was the programmer and the code was for Prof. Edward Lorenz.

customguy

According to Wikiquote, she coined the phrase "software engineering": https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Margaret_Hamilton > In the early days of this project, software was treated like an adopted child and not taken as seriously as other engineering disciplines, such as hardware engineering, and was thought of as art and magic, not science. I have always believed that art and science were involved in its creation, but at the time most people thought otherwise. Knowing this, I fought to legitimize software so that both software engineering and those who built it would receive the respect they deserved, so I began using the term “software engineering” to differentiate it from hardware and other forms of engineering. When I first started using these words, they were considered funny. It was a running joke for a long time. They liked to make fun of my radical ideas. Software eventually earned the same respect as any other discipline. found another retelling: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/jul/13/margaret-... > During the early days of Apollo, software was not taken as seriously as other engineering disciplines. Though in fact we had a complex system of systems, we weren’t getting credit for what was a legitimate field. It was out of desperation I came up with the term, to say: “Hey, we’re engineering too.” It was an ongoing joke for a long time. Then one day in a meeting, one of the most respected hardware gurus explained to everyone that he agreed with me. The process of building software should also be considered an engineering discipline, just like with hardware. It was a memorable moment.

bitwize

I've talked a lot about PRIDE, Milt Bryce's information-systems methodology that was perhaps the first commercially available, rigorous methodology for developing software and the first serious attempt to transform information systems development in the commercial sector from an arcane art into a proven, repeatable science. It really has few forbears. But... Margaret Hamilton was one of those forbears. She got the ideas out there; PRIDE just commercialized them and made them palatable to business IT shops.

markus_zhang

This definitely asks for a black ribbon on top of HN. What a loss!

muunbo

Margaret Hamilton actually coined the term "software engineer" IIRC. Rest in peace

diskzero

I was able to meet her, and others who worked at the MIT Instrumentation/Draper Lab, as a start-up I was with received funding from a VC firm founded by other Draper Lab members from the Apollo era. I was totally out of my league talking with them. This was thirty years ago and I remember her talking about formalized control systems. It was fascinating but went totally over my head. My startup was a fairly silly multimedia CD-ROM company and I was just happy to be in the room.

jamiek88

The word legend is used too much. She absolutely qualifies.

metadaemon

Weird, I was thinking about her monumental achievement just a few hours ago.

QuantumAtom

May her memory be a blessing

throw_m239339

RIP, what a fantastic person she was.

schaefer

Is any of the original Apollo code available to read?

dzonga

her pic with the stack of printed code will always be iconic. rest well pioneer.

Kim_Bruning

timmg's video explaining how the AGC worked is one of the better ones I've seen, if you actually want to understand in detail.

marcelo-earth

RIP. I'll always remember her iconic pic with the stack of printed code

CyberMacGyver

For years, I took piano lessons from an incredible teacher in Seattle who actually happens to be Margaret Hamilton’s sister. Looking back, I had no idea just how deeply she would impact both me and my family.

xiphmont

Rest in peace, Ma'am.

leelasankhar

I feel very sad. I always wished I could meet her and have a little talk. She'll be forever remembered thanks to that coolest badass picture of her. Om shanti!