Massachusetts Institute of Technology Oral History Program, oral history interviews with Charles Stark Draper

Charles Stark Draper, 1901-1987, B.A. in psychology, 1922, Stanford University; S.B. in electrochemical engineering, 1926, S.M. 1928, Sc.D. in physics, 1938, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, became assistant professor in the Department of Aeronautical Engineering at MIT in 1935, associate professor in 1938, professor in 1939, head of the department in 1951, and Institute Professor in 1966. From 1935 to 1969 he was director of the Instrumentation Laboratory which devised guidance, navigation, and control systems for aircraft, submarines, missiles, and space vehicles, among them the Apollo spacecraft that went to the moon. During World War II his work led to the development of the Mark 14 gunsight. In 1970 the Instrumentation Laboratory became an independent division of MIT; it was renamed the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, and Draper became the first president. In 1973, when MIT divested itself of all interest in the lab, Draper remained as its president and oversaw its transition to a nonprofit research and development laboratory