Dr. Draper stood among
the pioneer members of the first group of aircraft engineers. Such
monumental efforts as the Apollo landing on the moon and development
of guidance systems or components for all deployed strategic missiles
bear the stamp of his genius. Nationally, Dr. Draper's work has
created a multibillion-dollar industry.
First sponsored by the Sperry Gyroscope
Co., Dr. Draper's engineering work led to the development of
the Mark 14 gunsight during World War II. He continued work
with gun pointing and firing control developments until the
late 1950s, which earned him the title "Mr. Gyro" because
of the persistence and effectiveness with which he applied
the gyroscope to guidance and control instruments and to gun,
bomb, and rocket pointing and firing control instruments and
systems.
His later research resulted in the
development of a complete inertial navigation system for manned
and unmanned vehicles, which performs successfully in unfavorable
weather and does not rely on information from external sources.
Inertial guidance systems use gyroscopes
(rotating devices that react to changes in direction) and accelerometers
(instruments that detect changes in velocity over time) to
keep a steady course. The information obtained from the gyroscopes
and the accelerometers is fed into a computer, which calculates
the degree of drift from the intended course and recommends
appropriate corrections. Completely automatic inertial navigational
systems can sense tiny deviations from the intended course
and quickly correct them, resulting in very precise navigation
anywhere in the world. Before Draper developed his inertial
guidance systems, navigators depended on more laborious methods,
such as celestial navigation and radio navigation.
In 1942, the USS South
Dakota, using Dr. Draper's gunsights, shot down 32 Japanese
attacking aircraft, an unprecedented anti-aircraft score.
Under Dr. Draper's supervision, the MIT FEBE system in 1949
was the first to employ the inertial properties of gyroscopic
instruments for the purpose of aircraft navigation. The Space
Inertial Reference Equipment (SPIRE) followed in 1953. As
the first fully inertial system, SPIRE is considered a milestone
in the development of the inertial art. SPIRE Jr., an improved
version of the system, was successfully flight-tested in
1957.
Dr. Draper's work on inertial navigation
systems for marine vessels proved successful in the 1954 sea
tests of MAST (Marine Stable Element). This led to the SINS
(Submarine Inertial Navigation System) later that year.
The Air Force applied Dr. Draper's
work on inertial guidance for intercontinental ballistic missiles
to the THOR guidance system. Since 1957, the Laboratory has
developed the guidance systems for the family of Fleet Ballistic
Missiles for the US Navy: Polaris, Poseidon, Trident I, and
Trident II.
Work on the guidance and navigation
system for NASA's historic Apollo moon landing was the largest
single program at the Laboratory until the Trident II program.
Dr. Draper was a member of several
government science advisory groups, and served as chairman
of the National Inventors Council. He was a past president
of the International Academy of Astronautics, an Honorary Fellow
of the American Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences and
the British Institution of Mechanical Engineers, and an honorary
lifetime member of the Instrument Society of America. He held
an honorary fellowship with the British Interplanetary Society
and the Royal
Aeronautical
Society, and he was an honorary
member of the German Society for Guidance and Navigation and
the British Institute of Navigation.
He was also a fellow of the American
Physical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,
the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American
Association for the Advancement of Science, the Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the American Astronautical
Society, and he was a member of the National Academy of Engineering,
the National Academy of Sciences, the American Institute of
Consulting Engineers, the Society of Automotive Engineers,
the American Ordnance Association, the American Society for
Engineering Education, the Massachusetts Society of Professional
Engineers, the New York Academy of Sciences, and the French
National Academy. He was a past president of the MIT Soaring
Society, and a member of Sigma XI, Tau Beta Pi, and Sigma Alpha
Epsilon.
Among his more than 70 honors and
awards, 5 have come from foreign countries, including the U.S.S.R.
and Czechoslovakia. He was inducted into the National Inventors
Hall of Fame and into the International Space Hall of Fame.
He received the prestigious Langley
Medal of the Smithsonian Institution, the NASA Public Service
Award, the Dr. Robert H. Goddard Trophy of the National Space
Club, and the National Medal of Science from President Lyndon
Johnson.
Dr. Draper was named the New England
Inventor of the Year in 1981. In 1978, MIT established the
Charles Stark Draper Professorship of Aeronautics and Astronautics
in his honor. Dr. Draper received the "Engineering for
Gold Award" from the National Society of Professional
Engineers in 1984. The society cited his work in inertial guidance
systems as one of the 10 outstanding engineering achievements
of the past 50 years.
Among the honorary degrees he received
are doctoral degrees from Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule,
Zurich, Switzerland, in 1966; the University of Portland, Portland,
Oregon, in 1970; the University of Missouri, Rolla, in 1975;
and Boston University in 1984.
Many of Dr. Draper's former students
are leaders in government, industry, the military, and academia.
Dr. Draper died in July
1987. In tribute to his memory, Draper Laboratory endowed the Charles
Stark Draper Prize, an international engineering award administered
by the National Academy of Engineering. The Prize is awarded annually
to individuals whose outstanding engineering achievements have contributed
to the well-being and freedom of all humanity. |
