Engineer and inventor, born in Windsor, Missouri, USA. A generalist with degrees from Stanford, Harvard, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he became head of MIT's instrumentation laboratory in 1939. There he developed gyroscopes for weapons systems and went on to produce guidance systems for missiles and spacecraft, including the Apollo moon project.
Charles Stark Draper (October 2, 1901 – July 25, 1987) is often referred to as "the father of inertial navigation." While at MIT, he founded the Instrumentation Laboratory in the 1930s, later spun off as The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc.
Draper invented and developed the technology used in aircraft, space vehicles, and submarines which allows such vehicles to sense changes in direction by using gyroscopes and similar devices.
The Charles Stark Draper Prize is a prominent prize in engineering devoted to the memory of Charles Stark Draper. Charles Stark Draper's relatives were rather prominent in his Missouri birthplace, including his cousin, Governor Lloyd C.
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