Margaret Hamilton , a computer scientist who was pivotal in humans first land on the Moon , was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom this week , honoring her pioneering work .
In the ceremonial occasion led by President Barack Obama on Tuesday , Hamilton was one of21 recipientsof the award , the gamey civilian award in the United States . Another distaff computer scientist , Grace Hopper , was also posthumously given an award .
“ Everyone on this point has touched me in a knock-down personal way , ” Obama said at the observance , reported theNew York Times . “ These are ethnic music who have helped make me who I am and think about my presidency . ”
Hamilton began working with NASA in the 1960s as part of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ( MIT ) , which she had joined as a computer scientist after completing her degree in mathematics from the University of Michigan .
MIT was given a declaration by NASA in 1961 to develop the guidance and navigation system for the Apollo spacecraft that would go to the Moon , and Hamilton was put in charge of the Software Engineering Division . She mould long hour , aware of how polar her code was to the success of the mission .
“ I was always imagine headlines in the paper , and they would point back to how it pass , and it would point back to me , ” she toldWired .
Hamilton pictured in the Apollo Command Module . NASA
This work would turn up crucial during the descent of Apollo 11 to the lunar airfoil . Just proceedings before the landing , the software program overrode a statement , cause some confusion . But the resulting “ 1202 alarm ” from the package permit everyone have sex it was only shedding less important tasks to give more focus to the engine . The landing was thus able to continue without abort .
( In fact , the story behind this is incredibly interesting , as it was thanks to a unseasoned computer technologist called Jack Garman that the determination to ignore the alarm and proceed with the landing was made . Hepassed awayin September this year . )
Also present the Medal of Freedom was Grace Hopper , a computer scientist who helped make coding languages more virtual , along with create the first compiler for computer code . She was bang as “ awesome Grace ” and “ the first lady of software package ” , and remained at the head of programing from the 1940s through the 1980s . Hopper passed away in 1992 , but was given the accolade posthumously .
Both Hamilton and Hopper were completely deserving of their awarding , and it ’s not bad to see what might be affect as unvalued Hero given some deserved attention . Hamilton ’s software system would continue to be used through the later Apollo mission , and was conform for NASA ’s first space post ( Skylab ) and the Space Shuttle .
