I’m not adhering to the passed away criteria of the thread. There are plenty of people still with us who changed the world and received little notice outside their field.
Margaret Hamilton. Software engineer for NASA, specifically the Apollo program. She’s the creator of modern day code writing, as well as responsible for the idea, creation, and term software engineering. She changed the world, not just our ability to land on another one.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Hamilton_(software_engineer)
