@asperatelescope

Happy birthday, Margaret Hamilton! Long before coining the term “software engineer”, Margaret Hamilton was a high school math teacher in Richmond, Indiana. Her career took a drastic turn, however, when she moved to Boston so her husband could study law. At the Massachussets Institute of Technology (MIT), Margaret worked in meteorology and defense before being tasked with developing guidance systems for the Apollo missions. Her work was crucial to the success of the Apollo 11 mission in 1969, which took Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to the moon. Although she left NASA for the private sector in the 1970s, Margaret continued to innovate in her field. In 2016, President Barack Obama presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. A year later, she was honored with a mini figure from LEGO. Image credit: NASA, LEGO • • • #aspera #space #nasa #astronomy #astrophysics #stem #science #research #academia #galaxy #uarizona #physics #ultraviolet #satellite #telescope #pioneers #apollo #margarethamilton #lego