Charles Stark Draper

Charles Stark Draper (born October 2, 1901 in Windsor , Missouri , † July 25, 1987 in Cambridge , Massachusetts ) was an American engineer . He is considered the "father of inertial navigation ".

Life

After high school , Charles Stark Draper studied from 1917 first at the University of Missouri and from 1919 at Stanford University in Palo Alto , California . Here he received in 1922 the academic degree of a Bachelor of Arts in psychology .

From the same year he studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Here he received the academic degree of a Bachelor of Science in technical electrochemistry in 1926 and a Master of Science in physics in 1928 . In 1938 he also received a doctorate in physics from MIT .

From 1939 Charles Stark Draper was professor of aeronautical engineering at MIT and in 1940 he founded the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory , which was split off from MIT in 1973 as The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc. as a result of the anti-war protests during the Vietnam War .

plant

Charles Stark Draper invented and developed the technology that makes it possible to navigate aircraft , spacecraft and submarines using a gyroscope and similar devices. He played a leading role in the development of the navigation system for the Apollo spacecraft ( Primary Guidance, Navigation and Control System ).

Membership and Honors

In 1941, Draper was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . Also in 1941 he became a Fellow of the American Physical Society . In 1957, Draper was elected to the National Academy of Sciences . In 1959 he received the Magellanic Premium from the American Philosophical Society . In 1970 he was inducted into the Académie des Sciences in Paris and in 1981 into the National Aviation Hall of Fame .

The Charles Stark Draper Prize is named after him, and is awarded annually to deserving engineers by the United States National Academy of Engineering .

Others

A cousin of Charles Stark Draper was Lloyd C. Stark (1886-1972), who was governor of the US state Missouri from 1937 to 1941 .

Web links

Individual evidence

^ Members of the American Academy. Listed by election year, 1900-1949 ( PDF ). Retrieved September 27, 2015
^ The Magellanic Premium of the American Philosophical Society , website of the APS . Retrieved October 29, 2019.

personal data
SURNAME	Draper, Charles Stark
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American engineer
DATE OF BIRTH	October 2, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH	Windsor, Missouri
DATE OF DEATH	July 25, 1987
Place of death	Cambridge, Massachusetts

[1] Members of the American Academy. Listed by election year, 1900-1949 ( PDF ). Retrieved September 27, 2015

[2] The Magellanic Premium of the American Philosophical Society , website of the APS . Retrieved October 29, 2019.