Draper Laboratory

Draper Laboratory
Company typeIndependent, non-profit corporation
IndustryDefense
Space
Biomedical
Energy
FoundedMIT Confidential Instrument Development Laboratory (1932)[1]
The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc. (1973)
Headquarters555 Technology Square, Cambridge, MA 02139-3563
Number of locations
4
Key people
Dr. Jerry M. Wohletz, President and CEO (2022–)[2]
Revenue$672.2 million (fiscal year 2020)[3]
Number of employees
1,700[4][5]
Websitewww.draper.com

Draper Laboratory is an American non-profit research and development organization, headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts; its official name is The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc (sometimes abbreviated as CSDL).[6] The laboratory specializes in the design, development, and deployment of advanced technology solutions to problems in national security, space exploration, health care and energy.

The laboratory was founded in 1932 by Charles Stark Draper at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to develop aeronautical instrumentation, and came to be called the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory. During this period the laboratory is best known for developing the Apollo Guidance Computer, the first silicon integrated circuit–based computer.[7] It was renamed for its founder in 1970, and separated from MIT in 1973 to become an independent, non-profit organization.[1][7][8]

The expertise of the laboratory staff includes the areas of guidance, navigation, and control technologies and systems; fault-tolerant computing; advanced algorithms and software systems; modeling and simulation; and microelectromechanical systems and multichip module technology.[9]

  1. ^ a b "The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc.—History". Funding Universe. Retrieved 2013-12-28.
  2. ^ "Our Leadership" (Press release). Cambridge, MA: The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
  3. ^ "The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory revenue". Craft. Craft Co. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  4. ^ "Profile: Draper". The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc. Archived from the original on 2011-06-12. Retrieved 2013-12-28.
  5. ^ Levy, Mark (10 October 2009). "The top 10 employers in Cambridge—and how to contact them". Cambridge Day.
  6. ^ "Founding Consortium Institution: The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc". Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology (CIMIT). Archived from the original on 2011-12-13.
  7. ^ a b Morgan, Christopher; O'Connor, Joseph; Hoag, David (1998). "Draper at 25—Innovation for the 21st Century" (PDF). The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-05-01. Retrieved 2013-12-28.
  8. ^ "Draper Laboratory". MIT Course Catalog 2013–2014. MIT.
  9. ^ "Draper Overview, our Global Challenges Initiative, and Selected Projects" (PDF). The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc. Retrieved 2021-02-24.