Charles Stark Draper
| Charles Stark Draper | |
|---|---|
| Born |
October 2, 1901 Windsor, Missouri, U.S. |
| Died | July 25, 1987 (aged 85) Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Residence | Massachusetts |
| Nationality | American |
| Fields | Control theory |
| Institutions | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Alma mater |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Stanford University |
| Doctoral advisor | Philip M. Morse |
| Notable awards | Magellanic Premium (1959) National Medal of Science (1964) Daniel Guggenheim Medal (1966) Rufus Oldenburger Medal (1971) Richard E. Bellman Control Heritage Award (1981) |
Charles Stark "Doc" Draper (October 2, 1901 – July 25, 1987) was an American scientist and engineer, known as the "father of inertial navigation". He was the founder and director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Instrumentation Laboratory, later renamed the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, which made the Apollo Moon landings possible through the Apollo Guidance Computer it designed for NASA.
Draper was born in Windsor, Missouri. He attended the University of Missouri in 1917, then transferred to Stanford University, California in 1919, from which he earned a B.A. in psychology in 1922. He matriculated at MIT in 1922, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in electrochemical engineering (1926), and Master of Science (1928), and a Doctor of Science (1938) degrees in physics. Charles Stark Draper's relatives were prominent in his home state of Missouri, including his cousin, Governor Lloyd C. Stark.
Draper began teaching at MIT as an assistant professor. He was appointed a full professor in aeronautical engineering in 1939. It was here that he founded the Instrumentation Laboratory in the 1930s, spun off in 1973 as the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory.
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