Margaret Hamilton is a computer scientist, systems engineer and business owner. She was Director of the Software Engineering Division of the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory, which developed on-board flight software for the Apollo space program. In 1969, in a critical moment of the Apollo 11 mission, Hamilton’s team’s work prevented an abort of landing on the moon. She was 32 years old when the Apollo Lunar Module landed on the moon while running her code. She designed software robust enough to handle buffer overflows and cycle-stealing, which was instrumental in the success of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Hamilton is also credited with coining the term “software engineering.” In 1986, she became the founder and CEO of Hamilton Technologies, Inc. in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The company was developed around the Universal Systems Language, based on her paradigm of Development Before the Fact (DBTF) for systems and software design. Hamilton was born on August 17, 1936.
Bill Simmons is an American sports columnist, analyst, author and Boston sports fan. Now living in Los Angeles, he is the editor-in-chief for Grantland.com, which is affiliated with ESPN.com. Simmons also contributes columns and podcasts to the website. He is a former writer for ESPN The Magazine and Jimmy Kimmel Live!. Nicknamed The Sports Guy, formerly The Boston Sports Guy, Simmons gained the attention of ESPN with his website, BostonSportsGuy.com, which earned him a job offer in 2001. Since joining ESPN, he has also hosted his own podcast on ESPN.com titled The B.S. Report, appeared as a special contributor on the TV series E:60, and serves as an executive producer of ESPN’s documentary project, 30 for 30. He also has written two books, Now I Can Die in Peace (2005) and The Book of Basketball (2009). Simmons was born on this day in 1969.
Coincidentally, yesterday ESPN suspended Bill Simmons for three weeks for repeatedly calling NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell a liar on his Grantland.com podcast. Simmons condemned Goodell’s handling of the Ray Rice domestic violence case, particularly his claim that he had not seen the elevator video of Rice punching his fiancée. And so, for those who think the NFL (and ESPN) is a joke, here’s a Twitter hashtag: #FreeSimmons. On another topic, I generally agree with the Bill Simmons Hall of Fame Pyramid, a five-level Egyptian-style pyramid of the 96 greatest NBA players ever, last published in the revised 2010 edition of The Book of Basketball. Though, at this point, the rankings are four years out of date. According to a 2014 interview with Simmons, Lebron James has now ascended to sixth greatest in his Hall of Fame Pyramid, while Dirk Nowitzki has jumped into the top 20 and Kevin Durant has cracked the top 50. To date, I have created 8-bit pixel art of 20 of the top 25 NBA players of all time, including the top 14.
Kevin Garnett is an American professional basketball power forward and center. He has played for the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves (1995-2007), Boston Celtics (2007-2013) and Brooklyn Nets (2013-present). Garnett is a 15-time NBA All-Star and won the All-Star MVP award in 2003. In 2004, he led the Timberwolves to the Western Conference Finals and was named the league’s Most Valuable Player (MVP). After spending 12 seasons with the Timberwolves, Garnett was traded to the Celtics in a blockbuster trade in 2007. In his first season with Boston, he helped lead them to the 2008 NBA championship and was named Defensive Player of the Year. In the 2000 Summer Olympics, Garnett won a gold medal as a member of the U.S. men’s national basketball team.
Ray Allen is an American professional basketball shooting guard and current NBA free agent. He formerly played for the Milwaukee Bucks, Seattle SuperSonics, Boston Celtics and Miami Heat. In college, Allen was a member of the Connecticut Huskies. One of the most accurate three-point and free throw shooters in NBA history, he is a 10-time NBA All-Star, and has won two NBA championships (2008, 2013). Allen won a gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics as a member of the U.S. men’s basketball team. He has acted in two films, including the lead role of Jesus Shuttlesworth in the 1998 Spike Lee film He Got Game. Allen is the NBA’s all-time leader in three-point field goals made in both the regular season and the postseason. Now 39 years old, he was born on this day in 1975.
Note: Ray Allen is considering retirement, but he is also being recruited by LeBron James and company to join the new-look Cleveland Cavaliers (AKA the Cleveland Heat) and help them contend for a franchise-first championship. Allen is scheduled to be in China until July 27 and doesn’t appear to be in a rush to decide his playing future, sources said on July 18. He may be waiting to see if the Cavaliers trade for Kevin Love, thus creating another Big Three with Kyrie Irving and his friend LeBron.
David Ortiz Arias, nicknamed “Big Papi,” is a Dominican-American Major League Baseball (MLB) designated hitter (DH). He has played for the Boston Red Sox since 2003 and previously played for the Minnesota Twins (1997-2002). Ortiz is a nine-time All-Star, a three-time World Series champion (2004, 2007 and 2013) and the holder of the Red Sox single-season record for home runs with 54 (2006). In 2005, Red Sox ownership presented Ortiz with a plaque proclaiming him “the greatest clutch-hitter in the history of the Boston Red Sox.” Last month he was named World Series MVP after batting .688 as he willed the Red Sox to defeat the St. Louis Cardinals. Ortiz was born on this day in 1975.
John Adams was the second President of the United States (1797-1801), having earlier served as the first Vice President of the United States. An American Founding Father, he was a statesman, diplomat and a leading advocate of American independence from Great Britain. A lawyer and public figure in Boston, Adams came to prominence in the early stages of the American Revolution. He assisted Thomas Jefferson in drafting the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and was its primary advocate in the Congress. Interestingly, he died on Independence Day in 1826, mere hours after Jefferson’s death, on the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.
Note: This is 8-bit U.S. president #17 of 43. Happy Fourth of July!
Jason Collins is an American professional basketball center, most recently playing for the NBA’s Washington Wizards. He attended Stanford University and was selected in the first round of the 2001 NBA Draft. Collins has played for six teams in 12 NBA seasons and is now a free agent. On April 29, 2013, Collins became the first active male professional athlete in a major North American team sport to publicly come out as gay. According to ESPN’s Rick Reilly, “Collins is now the Jackie Robinson of gay athletes and, like Robinson, strong enough for the job. He’s universally loved in the NBA.”
Note: Collins has said that he chose to wear jersey number 98 in honor of Matthew Shepard, the victim of a gay hate crime in 1998.
Cy Young was a Major League Baseball (MLB) player. During his 22-year career (1890-1911), he pitched for five different teams, most notably the Boston franchise (Americans/Red Sox). Young established numerous pitching records, some of which have stood for a century. He still holds the MLB records for most wins (511), career innings pitched (7,355), career games started (815) and complete games (749). One year after Young’s death in 1955, the Cy Young Award was created to honor the previous season’s best pitcher. He was born on this day in 1867.
Alexander Graham Bell was a scientist, inventor and engineer credited with inventing the first practical telephone. Both his mother and wife were deaf, which led him to research hearing and speech. His experiments with hearing devices culminated with the first U.S. patent for the telephone in 1876. Many other inventions marked Bell’s later life, including groundbreaking work in optical telecommunications, hydrofoils and aeronautics. In 1888, Bell became a founding member of the National Geographic Society. He was born on March 3, 1847.
In retrospect, Bell considered his most famous invention an intrusion on his real work as a scientist and refused to have a telephone in his study. Over 100 years later, I agree with his assessment. I do not like talking on the phone, or hearing it ring/vibrate/sing pop songs. Bell and I have the same birthday, so perhaps we would agree on many things.
Randy Moss is a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL). Last season he played for the San Francisco 49ers, but Moss spent most of his career with the Minnesota Vikings and New England Patriots. He holds the NFL single season touchdown reception record (23, set in 2007) and is second on the NFL all-time regular season touchdown reception list with 155. A freakishly gifted athlete, Moss played college football at Marshall University and is one of the most famous “sons of Marshall.” He was born on this day in 1977 in West Virginia.
After a 15-1 regular season with the 1998 Vikings, and an 18-1 season with the juggernaut 2007 Patriots (whose only loss was the Super Bowl XLII upset), Moss just missed another chance at his first Super Bowl ring with the 2012 49ers. “I really think I’m the greatest receiver to ever play this game,” Moss said at Super Bowl media day in New Orleans on January 29, 2013. I agree that Moss is the greatest NFL receiver, in terms of pure, terrifying athletic talent, but NFL legend Jerry Rice leads him in every significant career statistical category. If Moss had a stronger work ethic, I’m pretty sure he could have been the greatest football player of all time.
Jacques Dominique Wilkins is a retired American professional basketball player (born in France) who primarily played for the Atlanta Hawks of the NBA. Wilkins was a nine-time NBA All-Star, and one of the best dunkers in NBA history, earning the nickname “The Human Highlight Film.” Wilkins participated in five slam dunk contests (1984, 1985, 1986, 1988 and 1990), winning two. In 1985, he beat rookie Michael Jordan in the finals. In 1986, Wilkins was defeated by his 5′ 7″ teammate, Spud Webb. In 1988, the highly anticipated rematch of Wilkins vs. Jordan resulted in Jordan winning 147 to 145, controversially.
As a kid, I tried to imitate the 1988 NBA Slam Dunk Contest dunks on the NERF basketball hoop attached above my bedroom door. Or, even better, on the metal basketball hoop mounted in my late grandparents’ basement that my dad built from Erector Set pieces in the late 1950s. These dunks were essentially the practice of accidentally slamming my nine-year-old extremities into the door frame or doorknob as I contorted my body to get a foam ball to pass through an orange plastic hoop. And the crowd goes wild.
Emily Dickinson was an American poet who lived a mostly introverted and reclusive life. While Dickinson was a prolific private poet, fewer than a dozen of her nearly 1,800 poems were published during her lifetime. Dickinson’s poems are unique for the era in which she wrote; they contain short lines, typically lack titles, and often use slant rhyme as well as unconventional capitalization and punctuation. She was born on this day in 1830.
Ted Williams was a Major League Baseball (MLB) player who spent his entire 22-year career as the left fielder for the Boston Red Sox (1939-1942 and 1946-1960). Williams led the league in batting six times, won the American League MVP twice and won the Triple Crown twice. A 19-time All-Star, he had a career batting average of .344 with 521 home runs. Williams was the last player to bat over .400 in a single season (.406 in 1941).
Elizabeth Warren is an American bankruptcy law expert, Harvard Law School professor, and the U.S. Senator-elect for the state of Massachusetts, having defeated incumbent Senator Scott Brown in the 2012 election last week. Her work as a national policy advocate led to the conception and establishment of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in 2011. She is a frequent subject of media interviews regarding the American economy and middle-class personal finance.
I suspect Warren may be a leading Democratic presidential candidate in the 2016 election (though she may wait until the 2020 election because Hillary Clinton will surely be running in 2016). This feisty, good-hearted advocate for middle-class consumers won her Senate seat by defiantly campaigning against the big banks and lobbyists “who wrecked our economy and destroyed millions of jobs.”
Bobby Orr is a Canadian former National Hockey League (NHL) player. He played his 12-season career (1966-1978) for the Boston Bruins and the Chicago Black Hawks. A defenseman, Orr used his skating speed and scoring abilities to revolutionize the position. Orr remains the only defenseman to have won the league scoring title. He was named the NHL’s best defenseman eight consecutive times and MVP three consecutive times. With Orr, the Bruins won the Stanley Cup twice, in 1970 and 1972. He is one of the greatest hockey players of all time.
George H. W. Bush was the 41st President of the United States. During his presidency, the U.S. started the Persian Gulf War (codenamed Operation Desert Storm) in 1991 response to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. Bush was born on this day in 1924. His eldest son served as the 43rd President of the United States.
Bill Russell is a former NBA player with the Boston Celtics from 1956-1969. He played the center position and is one of the greatest NBA players of all time. Russell was the centerpiece of the Celtics dynasty that won 11 NBA Championships during his 13-year career.
Note: This is 8-bit character #4 of the 13 greatest NBA players of all time.
Jack Kerouac was an American novelist, poet and face of the 1950s Beat Generation, with William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg. Kerouac is recognized for his spontaneous method of writing, covering topics such as Catholic spirituality, jazz, promiscuity, Buddhism, drugs, poverty and travel. His autobiographical novels include On the Road and Big Sur.
An American football quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He won three Super Bowls in four years with the New England Patriots. Brady helped set the record for the longest consecutive win streak in NFL history with 21 straight wins over two seasons (2003-04). In 2007, he led the Patriots to the NFL’s first undefeated 16-game regular season.
Note: Today Brady and the Patriots face the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLVI, a rematch of 2008’s Super Bowl XLII upset. It will be Brady’s fifth Super Bowl.
Bill Simmons – No. 787
Bill Simmons is an American sports columnist, analyst, author and Boston sports fan. Now living in Los Angeles, he is the editor-in-chief for Grantland.com, which is affiliated with ESPN.com. Simmons also contributes columns and podcasts to the website. He is a former writer for ESPN The Magazine and Jimmy Kimmel Live!. Nicknamed The Sports Guy, formerly The Boston Sports Guy, Simmons gained the attention of ESPN with his website, BostonSportsGuy.com, which earned him a job offer in 2001. Since joining ESPN, he has also hosted his own podcast on ESPN.com titled The B.S. Report, appeared as a special contributor on the TV series E:60, and serves as an executive producer of ESPN’s documentary project, 30 for 30. He also has written two books, Now I Can Die in Peace (2005) and The Book of Basketball (2009). Simmons was born on this day in 1969.
Coincidentally, yesterday ESPN suspended Bill Simmons for three weeks for repeatedly calling NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell a liar on his Grantland.com podcast. Simmons condemned Goodell’s handling of the Ray Rice domestic violence case, particularly his claim that he had not seen the elevator video of Rice punching his fiancée. And so, for those who think the NFL (and ESPN) is a joke, here’s a Twitter hashtag: #FreeSimmons. On another topic, I generally agree with the Bill Simmons Hall of Fame Pyramid, a five-level Egyptian-style pyramid of the 96 greatest NBA players ever, last published in the revised 2010 edition of The Book of Basketball. Though, at this point, the rankings are four years out of date. According to a 2014 interview with Simmons, Lebron James has now ascended to sixth greatest in his Hall of Fame Pyramid, while Dirk Nowitzki has jumped into the top 20 and Kevin Durant has cracked the top 50. To date, I have created 8-bit pixel art of 20 of the top 25 NBA players of all time, including the top 14.