Devising, writing, testing, and testing these routines was quite commendable. I guess for a minute they get the feeling they got when they watched the picture. That has been my favorite book since I was four.' Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 2022-06-01 07:53, By Maia Weinstock | MIT News Office [17], It was her efforts on this project that made her a candidate for the position at NASA as the lead developer for Apollo flight software. Biography of Margaret Hamilton, American Computer Scientist, Biography of Elizabeth Barrett, British poet, Biography of Ursula von der Leyen, German politician, Biography of Isabel Zendal, Spanish nurse, Biography of Sheila Herrero, Spanish athlete, Biography of Genoveva Torres, Spanish religious. [27] From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Margaret Hamilton (December 9, 1902 - May 16, 1985) was an American film actress known for her portrayal of the Wicked Witch of the West in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. This overloaded the central processing unit during the landing, but fortunately, the software recovered in the heated moments before Apollo 11 touched down. Having started on the stage in the early 1930s, she began to work extensively in the theater after leaving Los Angeles. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Copyright 2018-2023, All Rights Reserved Super Stars Bio. Zack, Suzanne. We have estimated However, once there, she preferred to accept work at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), as a software developer. Space is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Danko sat on a smoking pipe configured to look like the Witch's broomstick. Pres. Hamilton has a diverse background, including an undergraduate degree in mathematics from Earlham College in Indiana, and postgraduate work in meteorology at MIT. By 1968, she was in charge of all Command Module software, which was all the software for navigation and lunar landing guidance. For her last stage role, she was cast as Madame Armfeldt in the Stephen Sondheim musical A Little Night Music, singing the song "Liaisons" for the national tour costarring with Jean Simmons as her daughter Desiree. Her other mid-1970s stage productions, as the producer, were The Three Sisters and House Party.[where? On April 28, 2017, she received the Computer History Museum Fellow Award, which honors exceptional men and women whose computing ideas have changed the world. Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. [19] She later moved to Millbrook, New York. They're clapping at hearing the sound again.[11]. The award included $37,200, the largest amount awarded to any individual in NASA's history. The content of the programs was printed on continuous paper and stored in large folders. Journey for Margaret. Her son, interviewed for the 2005 DVD edition of the film, commented that Hamilton enjoyed the line so much, she sometimes used it in her real life. Her name was clearly visible when the entire Apollo 11 source code was released on GitHub in 2016; according to MIT, the first full line of the software read, "SUBMITTED: MARGARET H. HAMILTON DATE: 28 MAR 69 / M.H.HAMILTON, COLOSSUS PROGRAMMING LEADER / APOLLO GUIDANCE AND NAVIGATION.". She later attended Hathaway Brown School in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and practiced acting doing children's theater while a Junior League of Cleveland member. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). [10] She says her poet father and headmaster grandfather inspired her to include a minor in philosophy in her studies. Hamilton's plain looks helped to bring steady work as a character actress. Though only in her early '30s, the gloriously unpretty Hamilton subsequently . She later founded two software companiesHigher Order Software in 1976 and Hamilton Technologies in 1986, both in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Hamilton and Morgan never share any scenes in Oz. Half a century ago, MIT played a critical role in the development of the flight software for NASAs Apollo program, which landed humans on the Moon for the first time in 1969. Click here if you want to see this biography in Spanish translation. Hamilton said: What they used to do when you came into this organization as a beginner, was to assign you this program which nobody was able to ever figure out or get to run. The picture made a terrible impression of some kind on them, sometimes a ghastly impression, but most of them got over it, I guess because when I talk like the Witch, and when I laugh, there is a hesitation and then they clap. Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! Her solution: when you see a priority display, first count to By Maia Weinstock | MIT News Office Hamilton spent six weeks recovering from the incident and refused to do any more fire-related stunts on the film set. In 2017, she was one of a handful of Nasa women to be immortalised as a Lego figurine .On the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing, Hamilton, 82, looks back on her trailblazing work in. [Related: Apollo Coder and 'Apollo 13' Actor Receive Presidential Medals of Freedom]. Learn How rich is She in this year and how She spends money? The crowning mission, Apollo 11 in July 1969, saw Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin descend all the way to the surface in the lunar module, safely return to the command module (piloted by Mike Collins) and make it home to Earth. Bill Dunford [23] This included error detection and recovery software such as restarts and the Display Interface Routines (also known as the Priority Displays), which Hamilton designed and developed. For her work during this period, Hamilton has been credited with popularizing the concept of software engineering. It does not store any personal data. Margaret Heafield Hamilton is an American computer scientist, systems engineer, and business owner. American software engineer and businesswoman, American computer programmer, businessman, and philanthropist. Margaret Heafield Hamilton was born on August 17, 1936, in Paoli, Indiana. While studying mathematics and philosophy at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, she met James Hamilton, and they subsequently married. Later in the decade, she was in a little-known film noir, titled Bungalow 13 (1948), in which she again costarred opposite Cromwell. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. The company was developed around the Universal Systems Language (USL) and its associated automated environment, the 001 Tool Suite, based on her paradigm of development before the fact for systems design and software development.[32][51][52]. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Margaret Hamilton was born December 9, 1902 in Cleveland, Ohio, to Jennie (Adams) and Walter Hamilton. Thompson, Arthur A.; Strickland, A. J., (1996), "Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases", Last edited on 26 February 2023, at 16:40, Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories, "001: A Full Life Cycle Systems Engineering and Software Development Environment", Universal Systems Language for Preventative Systems Engineering, A Formal Universal Systems Semantics for SysML, Universal Systems Language: Lessons Learned from Apollo, "President Obama Names Recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom", "Former Earlham Student Had Role in Moon Flight", "2009 Outstanding Alumni and Distinguished Service Awards", "The Woman Who Taught Me Margaret Hamilton MAKERS Moment", "Margaret Hamilton: The Untold Story of the Woman Who Took Us to the Moon", "The statistical prediction of solutions of dynamic equations", "AGC Conference 1: Margaret Hamilton's introduction", "Scene at MIT: Margaret Hamilton's Apollo code", "NASA Engineers and Scientists-Transforming Dreams Into Reality", The History of Apollo On-board Guidance, Navigation, and Control, Keyboard and Display Program and Operation, "Moon landing memories:'Apollo 11 changed civilisation and I had a part in it', "Tales from the Lunar Module Guidance Computer", "Computer Got Loaded, letter to the editor of Datamation", Higher Order Software Evaluation and Critique, "Federal User Offers Free CAD/CAM Software", "And/Or Programs: A New Approach to Structured Programming", "Overview of Hamilton Technologies, Inc. (HTI) 001", "ICSE 2018 Plenary Sessions Margaret Hamilton", "What to Know About the Scientist who Invented the Term "Software Engineering", "NASA Engineers and Scientists Transforming Dreams Into Reality", "Margaret Hamilton: 2017 Fellow Biography", "Margaret Hamilton, the Engineer Who Took the Apollo to the Moon", "Her code got humans on the moon and invented software itself", "Software and a Woman at the Heart of Lunar Triumph", "A moonlit tribute to a moon landing icon", "Honour for software writer on Apollo moon mission", "White House honors two of tech's female pioneers", "Margaret Hamilton Awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom", "The 2017 Fellow Award Acceptance Speech", "Lego's 'Women of NASA' toy set is finally on sale and it's already Amazon's best-selling toy", "Investiture of scientist Margaret Hamilton as an honorary doctor of the UPC", "Margaret Hamilton Accepts 2019 Washington Award Nomination", "Bard College - 2019 Honorary Degree Recipients", "Margaret Hamilton's sister shares her memories as Seattle's seniors celebrate the 50th anniversary of the moon landing", "James Cox Hamilton, at 77; lawyer was quiet warrior for First Amendment", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Margaret_Hamilton_(software_engineer)&oldid=1141753509. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. They're really scared for a second. She became very concerned about the role's effect on children, and finally did a guest spot on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (1968) to explain that the Witch was just a character in the film, and not herself. [7][9] She cites Florence Long, the head of the math department at Earlham, as helping with her desire to pursue abstract mathematics and become a mathematics professor. I will return to work on one condition no more fireworks!" For this Laboratory, she developed codes for new programming routines. According to Wired's Karen Tegan Padir: "She, along with that other early programming pioneer, COBOL inventor Grace Hopper, also deserve tremendous credit for helping to open the door for more women to enter and succeed in STEM fields like software. The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. She was director of the Software Engineering Division of the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory, which developed on-board flight software for NASA's Apollo program. [4][5] The family later moved to Michigan,[6] where Margaret graduated from Hancock High School in 1954. It was a memorable day when one of the most respected hardware gurus explained to everyone in a meeting that he agreed with me that the process of building software should also be considered an engineering discipline, just like with hardware. She is one of the people credited with coining the term "software engineering". She played Morticia Addams' mother, Hester Frump, in three episodes of The Addams Family. Updates? Hamilton, now an independent computer scientist, described for MIT News in 2009 her contributions to the Apollo software which last month was added in its entirety to the code-sharing site GitHub: From my own perspective, the software experience itself (designing it, developing it, evolving it, watching it perform and learning from it for future systems) was at least as exciting as the events surrounding the mission. We took our work seriously, many of us beginning this journey while still in our 20s. Credit: Courtesy MIT Museum Margaret Hamilton's Apollo Code A brief history of the famous 1969 photo of the software that sent humans to the Moon. [4] They divorced in 1967 and Margaret married Dan Lickly two years later.[80][82]. (Revised December 29, 2004). [18] In 1979, she was a guest speaker at a University of Connecticut children's literature class. Principal Investigator, Magnetometer Instrument, Cassini Mission, This site is maintained by the Planetary Science Communications team at. Hamilton, M.; Hackler, W. R. (2004). In 1954, she graduated from Thomas Hancock High School in Minnesota. They had one son, Hamilton Wadsworth Meserve, whom she raised on her own. She was Director of the Software Engineering Division of the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory, which developed on-board flight software for the Apollo space program. Throughout the 1970s, Hamilton lived in New York City's Gramercy Park neighborhood and appeared on local (and some national) public-service announcements for organizations promoting the welfare of pets. Margaret Hamilton had no trouble reconciling her career at NASA with her mothering role. Hamilton was a regular parishioner of the Presbyterian church. [48] Others have used HOS to formalize the semantics of linguistic quantifiers,[49] and to formalize the design of reliable real-time embedded systems. Byla editelkou oddlen softwarovho inenrstv v MIT Instrumentation Laboratory, kter vyvjela letov software pro Program Apollo.V roce 1986 zaloila spolenost Hamilton Technologies, kter sdl ve mst Cambridge ve stt Massachusetts. [2], Margaret Elaine Heafield was born August 17, 1936, in Paoli, Indiana,[3] to Kenneth Heafield and Ruth Esther Heafield (ne Partington). The studio hired a new stunt double, Aline Goodwin, to finish the broomstick-riding scene for Danko.[9]. She later attended Hathaway Brown School in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and practiced acting doing children's theater while a Junior League of Cleveland member. Would spoof her famous role of The Wicked Witch of The West in a 1976 Paul Lynde Halloween Special for television. In recent years, a striking photo of Hamilton and her teams Apollo code has made the rounds on social media and in articles detailing her key contributions to Apollo 11's success. For ABC's short-lived radio anthology Theatre-Five, she played a manipulative ailing Aunt Lettie to Joan Lorring as the unhappy niece Maude in "Noose of Pearls". There was no second chance. In 2009, Margaret Hamilton and fellow MIT software engineers described what is was like to contribute to the Apollo missions 40 years after the famous Apollo 11 landing in the Moon's Sea of Tranquility in July 1969. From 1961 to 1963, Hamilton worked on the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) Project at the MIT Lincoln Lab,[14] where she was one of the programmers who wrote software for the prototype AN/FSQ-7 computer (the XD-1), used by the U.S. Air Force to search for possibly unfriendly aircraft. In 1954, she graduated from Thomas Hancock High School in Minnesota. "The award included the largest financial award that NASA had ever presented to any individual up to that point. On December 23, 1938, Hamilton suffered a second-degree burn on her face and a third-degree burn on her hand during a second take of her fiery exit from Munchkinland in which the trap door's drop was delayed to eliminate the brief glimpse of it seen in the final edit. Everything was done based on codes, so that they did not occupy too much space in the small memories of the computers, which were NOT made of silicon, but were housed in iron cores. [3], Hamilton made her screen debut in the MGM film Another Language (1933) starring Helen Hayes and Robert Montgomery. In the episode, entitled "Triptych for a Witch," Hamilton played the title role. Managing Editor: She later attended Hathaway Brown School in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and practiced acting doing children's theater while a Junior League of Cleveland member. UConnToday, 23 April 2013. One of the many contributors to this effort was Margaret Hamilton, a computer scientist who led the Software Engineering Division of the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory, which in 1961 contracted with NASA to develop the Apollo programs guidance system. We had to find a way and we did. Margaret Hamilton (educator) (1871-1969), American educator Margaret Hamilton (actress) (1902-1985), American film character actress Margaret Hamilton (software engineer) (born 1936), American software engineer Margaret Hamilton (publisher) (1941-2022), Australian publisher of children's literature You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. The man had reached the Moon. The meaning of those almost mysterious codes was available to very few. Zeitlin, Arnold. [61] Hamilton talks about "Errors" and how they influenced her work related to software engineering and how her language, USL, could be used to prevent the majority of "Errors" in a system. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. In 2003, she was given the NASA Exceptional Space Act Award for scientific and technical contributions. She graduated from Hancock High School and studied at the University . In 1960, producer/director William Castle cast Hamilton as a housekeeper in his 13 Ghosts horror film, in which 12-year-old lead Charles Herbert's character taunts her about being a witch, including the final scene, in which she is holding a broom in her hand. and he said 'Maggie, they want you to play a part on the Wizard.' She subsequently directed and supervised the developments of the Skylab space station mission. Anthony Oettinger,[53] Barry Boehm,[citation needed] and Hamilton have been credited with naming the discipline of "software engineering". So, how much is Margaret Hamilton worth at the age of 83 years old? At the time, no schools taught software engineering, so the team members had to work out any problems on their own. She was 82 years old. This page was last edited on 26 February 2023, at 16:40. !' [47] In 1980, British-Israeli computer scientist David Harel published a proposal for a structured programming language derived from HOS from the viewpoint of and/or subgoals. When she reprised her role as the Wicked Witch in a 1976 episode of Sesame Street, "the show's producers were flooded with letters from parents saying it was too frightening for children. was ranked 99th in the 2005 American Film Institute survey of the most memorable movie quotes. She coined the term software engineer because she felt that the work she and her team were doing was just as important and just as much engineering as the other work on the Apollo spacecraft. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. [54][55][56] Hamilton details how she came to make up the term "software engineering": When I first came up with the term, no one had heard of it before, at least in our world. And there's always a funny reaction, like 'Ye gods, they wish they hadn't asked.' Besides her work in Apollo, she was part of MIT Lincoln Laboratory's Semi-Automatic Ground Environment Air Defense System, or SAGE. Hamilton never remarried. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. "From my own perspective, the software experience itself (designing it, developing it, evolving it, watching it perform and learning from it for future systems) was at least as exciting as the events surrounding the mission," she said. ], She married Paul Boynton Meserve on June 13, 1931, and made her debut on the New York City stage the following year. The on-board flight software captured these alarms with the "never supposed to happen displays" interrupting the astronauts with priority alarm displays. [36], When Hamilton started using the term "software engineering" during the early Apollo missions,[57] software development was not taken seriously compared to other engineering,[58] nor was it regarded as a science. Phil Davis Pufnstuf herself being spoofed by actress Billie Hayes. Visit our corporate site (opens in new tab). JWST finds galaxies that shouldn't exist! This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Margaret-Hamilton-American-computer-scientist, Space.com - Margaret H. Hamilton: Apollo Computer Programmer, Wired - Her Code Got Humans on the Moon - And Invented Software Itself, Margaret Hamilton - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11), Margaret Hamilton - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up), National Aeronautics and Space Administration. and he said, 'What else? She appeared on an episode of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood in 1975 where she explained to children she was only playing a role and showed how putting on a costume "transformed" her into the witch. Snyder, Lawrence and Henry, Ray Laura, "Fluency7 with Information Technology", Pearson, M. Hamilton, S. Zeldin (1976) "Higher order softwareA methodology for defining software". Volume One, 1981-1985, pages 360-361. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. "From 'Kiddie Lit' to Children's Literature: The Biography of Francelia Butler." City Without Men. Because software was a mystery, a black box, upper management gave us total freedom and trust. is 5'(1.52m) . This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. And sometimes when I go to schools, if we're in an auditorium, I'll do it. Margaret Hamilton (Margaret Brainard Hamilton) was born on 9 December, 1902 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, is an Actress, Soundtrack. Dedication and commitment were a given. Soon after, Neil Armstrong radioed the expected message to Houston: The Eagle has landed, The Eagle has landed. Margaret Heafield Hamilton (born August 17, 1936) is an American computer scientist, systems engineer, and business owner. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. [16] Hamilton also served as Director of the Software Engineering Division. When asked about her experiences on the set of The Wizard of Oz, Hamilton said her biggest fear was that her monstrous film role would give children the wrong idea of who she really was. Hamilton has published more than 130 papers, proceedings, and reports, about sixty projects, and six major programs. She strove to work as much as possible to support herself and her son; she never put herself under contract to any one studio and priced her services at $1,000 ($18,800 with inflation[4]) a week.[5]. Half a century ago, MIT played a critical role in the development of the flight software for NASAs Apollo program, which landed humans on the Moon for the first time in 1969. Starred in the live on-stage musical "A Little Night Music" (with actress Jean Simmons in the lead role) during the mid-1970s in San Francisco. After she recuperated, she said, "I won't sue, because I know how this business works, and I would never work again. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. This system played a crucial role just before the Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20, 1969. She studied mathematics at the University of Michigan in the 1950s and later earned a BA in mathematics with a minor in philosophy from Earlham College in 1958. Discover Margaret Hamilton's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. At MIT she began programming software to predict the weather and did postgraduate work in meteorology. As the alarms went off and priority displays replaced normal ones, the actual switchover to new programmes behind the screens was happening "a step slower" than it would today. five.[28]. If the latter case, this would be Hamilton's third but uncredited role. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. Margaret Hamilton, the actress whose role as the cackling Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz unnerved generations of children, died yesterday, apparently of a heart attack, at a nursing home in Salisbury, Connecticut. She led a team that was tasked with developing the software for the guidance and control systems of the in-flight command and lunar modules of the Apollo missions. Related: Apollo Coder and 'Apollo 13' Actor Receive Presidential Medals of Freedom, SpaceX scrubs Crew-6 astronaut launch due to ignition-fluid issue, Experience SpaceX's Crew-6 astronaut mission with these amazing photos, DNA from 4 American presidents will launch to deep space, Asteroid Ryugu is rich in organic molecules that can be building blocks of life, On This Day In Space: Feb. 26, 1966: 1st launch of Saturn 1B rocket, Your monthly guide to stargazing & space science, Subscribe today and save an extra 5% with code 'LOVE5', Issues delivered straight to your door or device. Margaret Hamilton, ne Margaret Heafield, (born August 17, 1936, Paoli, Indiana, U.S.), American computer scientist who was one of the first computer software programmers; she created the term software engineer to describe her work. Biography. ", Hamilton later left MIT to start her own software company, but her name is still most recognized for her lunar landing accomplishments. In Wired magazine, she said in 2015 "I enjoyed school, but there was something about maths that I loved more than anything". The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". Margaret had already built her resume with several performances in film before she came to her most memorable and astronomically successful role, Almira Gulch / The Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz (1939). Margaret Hamilton was born Margaret Heafield on August 17, 1936 in Paoli, Indiana. [81][80] She briefly taught high school mathematics and French at a public school in Boston, Indiana. We have a full Biography, Photos, Theatre Credits, and more! [66], She met her first husband, James Cox Hamilton,[80] in the mid-1950s while attending college. A brief history of the famous 1969 photo of the software that sent humans to the Moon. In 1976, Hamilton co-founded with Saydean Zeldin a company called Higher Order Software (HOS)[40] to further develop ideas about error prevention and fault tolerance emerging from their experience at MIT working on the Apollo program. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. "Margaret Hamilton, 82, Dies; Played Wicked Witch In 'Oz', "Ah, The Songs of Long Ago! The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". Mention the name Margaret Hamilton to a Millennial, and chances are they won't be able to pick her out of a line-up. mystery guest on the popular Sunday night CBS-TV program. Hamilton was born in Cleveland, Ohio and practiced her craft doing children's theater while she was a Junior League of Cleveland member. skywriting sequence at the Emerald City. Mastodon: https://qoto.org/@howellspace. Danko made the fiery entrance to Munchkinland, not Hamilton. Her most visible appearances during this period were as general store owner, Cora, in a national series of television commercials for Maxwell House coffee. During one interview, she joked: I was in need of money at the time, I had done about six pictures for MGM at the time, and my agent called. Among them, there were 6 in which the man stepped on the floor of the Moon. New York, With only minutes to spare, the decision was made to go for the landing.". DAAAE30-02-D-1020 and DAAB07-98-D-H502/0180, Picatinny Arsenal, NJ, 20032004. In that role, she took the lead on the software used to govern the flight dynamics of the Apollo spacecraft, which were used for six landing missions between 1969 and 1972. She appeared on Broadway in the musical Goldilocks opposite Don Ameche and Elaine Stritch, gave a lighter touch to the domineering Parthy Anne Hawks in the 1966 revival of Show Boat (dancing with David Wayne), and was the tender Aunt Eller in the 1968 Lincoln Center revival of Oklahoma!. The original caption, she says, reads: Here, Margaret is shown standing beside listings of the software developed by her and the team she was in charge of, the LM [lunar module] and CM [command module] on-board flight software team.. A former schoolteacher, she worked as a character actor in films for seven years before she was offered the role that defined her public image. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. Margaret Hamilton was born December 9, 1902 in Cleveland, Ohio, to Jennie (Adams) and Walter Hamilton. In The Paul Lynde Halloween Special (1976), she portrayed Lynde's housekeeper, reprising the Wicked Witch role, as well as introducing Lynde to the rock group Kiss. She appeared in The Phil Silvers Show episode S2E20 Bilko Enters Politics (05 February 1957). [16] A Republican, she supported the campaign of Dwight Eisenhower during the 1952 presidential election. Hamilton and Ray Bolger were cast members in the 1966 fantasy film The Daydreamer, a collection of stories by Hans Christian Andersen. Early life [ edit] [14] The SAGE Project was an extension of Project Whirlwind, started by MIT to create a computer system that could predict weather systems and track their movements using simulators.