Description

The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory was founded as the Confidential Instrument Development Laboratory (later the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory) in 1932 by Charles Stark Draper. It specialized in the design of aeronautical instruments for tracking and navigating aircraft, and was later instrumental in designing the Apollo Guidance Computer. The lab was renamed for its founder in 1970. In 1973, MIT divested itself from the laboratory, and it became an independent research and development corporation.