Margaret Hamilton, the computer pioneer whose software was crucial to the first moon landing, has died at the age of 90. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) announced her death on Wednesday, 7 October 2026.
Hamilton, who died on 30 September, learned programming at MIT and developed software to detect enemy aircraft before joining the Nasa contract for Apollo onboard flight software. She stated she was the first programmer and first woman hired for the project.
Minutes before the Apollo 11 spacecraft landed on the moon in 1969, an onboard computer alarm sounded. Hamilton's software detected a hardware-related problem and compensated for it by restarting and re-establishing high-priority tasks, allowing the mission to continue.
Former US President Barack Obama presented Hamilton with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016, acknowledging her critical role in the mission. Hamilton is survived by her daughter, a son-in-law, two grandsons, and four great-grandchildren.