Preface: Hot spot of innovation and invention -- A milestone in aviation history -- The formative years -- Back to MIT -- Aircraft instruments and the beginnings of the Instrumentation Lab -- From turn indicator to gunsight -- War work -- Directors and gun fire-control systems -- The A1-C(M) gunsight -- The "immaculate interception" and other air-defense activities -- Inertial navigation -- Floated gyros and SPIRE -- SINS : the submarine inertial navigation system -- Professor, prodigious worker, family man -- Inertial guidance for Atlas and Thor -- Titan, FLIMBAL, AIRS, and the MX/Peacekeeper -- Polaris -- Poseidon and trident -- Spy satellites and space planes -- To the moon and beyond -- The road to divestiture -- A heterogeneous engineer.
Summary:
"Charles Stark Draper, often referred to as 'The Father of Inertial Navigation,' was the moving force behind the development of the floated gyroscope in the United States. He was an engineer, a scientist, and an inventor; an inspiring teacher; and a dynamic leader responsible for creating the laboratory that brought inertial navigation to fruition for operational use in submarines, aircraft, and space vehicles. Draper also created and ran the famous laboratory, now bearing his name, that helped make MIT into one of the nation's leading research centers for government research. The story of Draper's life and his accomplishments cannot be separated from those of the Instrumentation Laboratory, which are one and the same. Thus, this biography of Charles Stark 'Doc' Draper, is also a chronological accounting of the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory and its contributions to the nation"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.