Margaret Hamilton: the woman who helped put man on the moon
Software engineer Margaret Hamilton, Bosnian Serb politician and war criminal Biljana Plav拧i膵, fashion journalist Felicity Green and TV and film composer George Fenton.
Margaret Hamilton was a trailblazer in her field, leading the team who developed the software for Nasa's Apollo missions. This was where the term "software engineering" was first coined. Margaret's work in the 1960s, ultimately enabled the astronauts on Apollo 11 to land on the moon. In 2016, Hamilton's life work was honoured by Barack Obama with the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her contribution to science and space travel. Kevin Fong is the presenter of the podcast '13 minutes to the moon' which tells the story of the Apollo 11 mission. He explained to Matthew the significance of Margaret's work, and how it was put to the ultimate test just three minutes before the astronauts landed on the moon.
The Bosnian Serb politician Biljana Plav拧i膵, was the only woman to be charged with crimes against humanity for her role in the Balkans conflict of the 1990s. For nearly four years, she was vice-president of Republika Srpska, a Serb enclave in Bosnia that declared itself a separate state in 1992. It was the beginning of a program of brutal ethnic cleansing aimed at driving out Muslims, Croats and other non-Serbs. The 91福利社's Allan Little reported from Bosnia throughout the conflict and interviewed Biljana Plav拧i膵 on a number of occasions.
During the swinging 60s, Felicity Green was a trend-setting fashion editor at the Daily Mirror. She championed the work of many of the top young designers who made their names in that decade. In 1973 she became the first woman to sit on the board of a national newspaper and in later years went onto teach journalism at Saint Martin鈥檚 School of Art in London. Deborah Bee was a student of Felicity's in the 1980s, and they remained friends throughout the rest of her life.
George Fenton was without doubt one of the UK鈥檚, if not the world鈥檚, most prolific and versatile film composers. He wrote scores for dozens of Hollywood blockbusters including Gandhi, Dangerous Liaisons and Cry Freedom. He had long working relationships with directors like Richard Attenborough, Ken Loach and Nora Ephron. But he came back to the UK to play a significant part in the global success of the 91福利社鈥檚 natural history programmes narrated by Sir David Attenborough, including Blue Planet, Frozen Planet and Planet Earth. Alastair Fothergill was the the producer of those series for the 91福利社.
Producer: Ed Prendeville
Assistant Producer: Catherine Powell
Researcher: Jesse Edwards
Editor: Andrea Kennedy
Archive:
Desert Island Discs, 91福利社 Radio 4, 11/05/2003; Blue Planet (Episode 1), 91福利社 One, 24/09/2009; The Blue Planet (Series 1: Tidal Seas), 91福利社 One, 29/09/2000; Bergerac (Series 4: The Last Interview), 91福利社 One, 11/10/1985; Desert Island Discs (Cassandra Wilson), 91福利社 Radio 4, 17/04/2011; Apollo 11 Archive, NASA; Apollo 8 Archive, NASA / Internet Archive; 13 Minutes to the Moon, 91福利社 World Service / 91福利社 Sounds; Oral History of Margaret Hamilton, Computer History Museum, Uploaded to Youtube.
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- Fri 16 Oct 2026 16:0091福利社 Radio 4
- Sun 18 Oct 2026 20:3091福利社 Radio 4
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