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Computer scientist Margaret Hamilton with the extensive amount of code she and her team wrote to guide the NASA mission to the Moon, USA, 1969 (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/historyporn@lemmy.world
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[–] 30 points 1 year ago (2 children)

wish i learned about people like her back in history class. we just learned about the men on the ship. but not the vital people that made the ship land and come back without crashing

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  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    This song really hit me with that because it's both an acknowledgement that the Apollo 11 mission deserves folk music and praise for everyone who got them there and back. Though it doesnt reference the programmers and mathematicians involved

    Hamilton was one of many heroes in the program. A lot of folks from the ordinary to the abnormal to the brilliant worked together and did just about the most extraordinary things anyone ever did. Every weld, every pipe fit, every wire run, every sheet stamped, every number crunched, every chemical mixed… was a part of that project.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago*

    the most extraordinary things anyone ever did

    If I was inclined to parrot the "America is the greatest country ever" viewpoint, I would point to the moon landings as the greatest thing we ever did. And it was done by a large collection of smart, well-educated people doing science and mathematics - not by a bunch of hillbillies whose greatest accomplishment in life was figuring out how to mount a big flag on the back of their pickup truck. Even the dudes who rode those rockets to the moon were well-educated in science and mathematics in addition to being brave as fuck. It's ironic that the "America is the greatest" crowd are also generally anti-science.

    The other greatest thing we ever did was defeating fascism in WWII. Ironically enough, this was achieved with literally a command economy, not via "free enterprise". Also ironic that the "America is the greatest" crowd now loves fascism. I guess defeating the CSA in the Civil War and ending slavery (sort of) was also a great thing - and once again the irony there is obvious. It's ironies all the way down (including captured Nazi rocket technology essentially forming the basis of the moon landings).

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