Margaret Hamilton Accomplishments

Margaret Hamilton’s Eminence

Michelle Obama once said, “Our greatness has always come from people who expect nothing and take nothing for granted– folks who work hard for what they have, then reach back and help others after them.” Margaret Hamilton (born 1936) worked hard and never gave up despite encountering many challenges. During her career, she was a good leader and facilitated a team that got things done quickly and effectively. Most notably, the code she wrote was successful and saved the astronauts on the Apollo 11 spacecraft on July 16, 1969. Margaret Hamilton’s eminence is shown in her determination to create successful code for the Apollo mission’s guidance computer, her foundational impact on software developers, and her impact on computer science and society.

To begin, Margaret Hamilton’s eminence was shown in her determination to write successful code for the Apollo mission’s guidance computer. Hamilton was interested in this and was motivated for the code to be safe. To highlight, Margaret had a job creating computer software to predict the weather at MIT. She was curious about software and taught herself how to program computers. Later, she found out that MIT was working with NASA on a project for computer software to go with the Apollo mission. She applied and

As a result of her hard work, software developers after her have a well designed example of code for spacecraft. For instance, Margaret’s code was the first of its kind. It coded the spacecraft to navigate a route to the moon. She also coded the computer to do the more important tasks first, and this saved the astronauts. This also provided a foundation for software developers in future missions. They could look at Hamilton’s code and make changes for their purposes. There was even a simulation of that code (“Margaret Hamilton,” 2022). This demonstrates Margaret Hamilton’s impact on software