Editing Draper Laboratory (section)

==History==
[[Image:Dsky.jpg|thumb|right|The display and keyboard (DSKY) interface of the [[Apollo Guidance Computer]], mounted on the control panel of the Command Module, with the Flight Director Attitude Indicator (FDAI) above]]

In 1932 Charles Stark Draper, an MIT aeronautics professor, founded a teaching laboratory to develop the instrumentation needed for tracking, controlling and navigating aircraft. During [[World War II]], Draper's lab was known as the '''Confidential Instrument Development Laboratory'''. Later, the name was changed to the '''MIT Instrumentation Laboratory''' or '''I-Lab'''. As of 1970, it was located at 45 Osborn Street in Cambridge.<ref>[http://credo.library.umass.edu/view/zoom/muph057-b003-sl401-i027 MIT I-Lab demonstration: protesters marching past the Instrumentation Laboratory, February 1970] (photo)</ref>

The laboratory was renamed for its founder in 1970 and remained a part of MIT until 1973 when it became an independent, not-for-profit research and development corporation.<ref name="CSDLFUNDINGUNIVERSE"/><ref name="DRAPERAT25"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.draper.com/history |title=History |publisher=The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc. |access-date=2013-12-28}}</ref> The transition to an independent corporation arose out of pressures for divestment of MIT laboratories doing military research at the time of the [[Vietnam War]], despite the absence of a role of the laboratory in that war.<ref name = "Moments">{{cite book| last = Leslie| first = Stuart W.| title = Becoming MIT: Moments of Decision| editor-last = Kaiser| editor-first = David| publisher = MIT Press| year = 2010| pages = 124–137| isbn = 978-0-262-11323-6}}</ref>

As it divested from MIT, the laboratory was initially moved to 75 Cambridge Parkway and other scattered buildings near MIT, until a centralized new {{convert|450,000|sqft|adj=on}} building could be erected at 555 [[Technology Square (Cambridge, Massachusetts)|Technology Square]]. The complex, designed by [[Skidmore, Owings & Merrill]] (Chicago), was opened in 1976 (later renamed the "Robert A. Duffy Building" in 1992).<ref name="DRAPERAT25"/>

In 1984, the newly-built {{convert|170,000|sqft|adj=on}} [[Albert G. Hill]] Building was opened at One Hampshire Street, and connected across the street to the main building via a securely enclosed pedestrian [[Skyway|skybridge]].<ref name="DRAPERAT25"/><ref name="HillObit">{{cite news |title=Albert Hill, developer of radar and air defenses, dies at 86 |url=https://news.mit.edu/1996/hill-1030 |access-date=2021-02-24 |work=MIT News |publisher=Massachusetts Institute of Technology |date=October 30, 1996 |language=en}}</ref> However in 1989, Draper Lab was compelled to cut its workforce of over 2000 in half, through a combination of early retirement, attrition, and involuntary layoffs.<ref name="DRAPERAT25"/> This drastic shrinkage was caused by cutbacks in defense funding, and changes in government contracting rules.<ref name="DRAPERAT25"/> In response, Draper expanded its work addressing non-defense national goals in areas such as space exploration, energy resources, medicine, robotics, and artificial intelligence, and also took measures to increase its non-government work,<ref name="DRAPERAT25"/> eventually growing to 1400 employees within the decade.<ref name="OBrien2017"/>

In 2017, a formerly open-air courtyard between the original buildings was converted into an enclosed {{convert|20,000|sqft|adj=on}} multistory [[Atrium (architecture)|atrium]] to accommodate security scanning, reception, semipublic areas, temporary exhibition space, and employee dining facilities.<ref name="CSDL-Atrium">{{cite web |title=Draper Breaks Ground on $60 Million Addition |url=https://www.draper.com/news-releases/draper-breaks-ground-60-million-addition |website=Draper |date=17 February 2016 |publisher=The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc |access-date=2021-02-24 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="OBrien2017">{{cite web |last1=O'Brien |first1=Kelly J. |title=First look: Draper shows off $60M atrium and newest tech |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/news/2017/10/05/first-look-draper-shows-off-60m-atrium-and-newest.html |website=Boston Business Journal |publisher=American City Business Journals. |access-date=2021-02-18}}</ref> The open, airy interior space, designed by Boston architects [[Elkus Manfredi]], features a [[green wall]] planting and plentiful seating.<ref name="Vanceva">{{cite web |title=The Atrium at Draper |url=https://www.vanceva.com/gallery/atrium-draper |website=Vanceva Color Studio |access-date=2021-02-24 |language=en |date=28 February 2020}}</ref><ref name="Kubikoff">{{cite web |title=Draper Laboratory Project |url=https://www.kubikoff.com/news/charles-stark-draper-lab-atrium/ |website=Kubikoff |access-date=2021-02-24}}</ref><ref name="Haworth">{{cite web |title=Draper Labs |url=https://www.haworth.com/na/en/projects/customer-projects/draper-labs.html |website=Haworth |publisher=Haworth Inc |access-date=2021-02-24 |archive-date=2022-12-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221216133149/https://www.haworth.com/na/en/projects/customer-projects/draper-labs.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

A primary focus of the laboratory's programs throughout its history has been the development and early application of advanced guidance, navigation, and control (GN&C) technologies to meet the needs of the [[US Department of Defense]] and [[NASA]]. The laboratory's achievements include the design and development of accurate and reliable guidance systems for undersea-launched ballistic missiles, as well as for the [[Apollo Guidance Computer]] that unfailingly guided the [[Apollo program|Apollo]] astronauts to the Moon and back safely to Earth. 

The laboratory contributed to the development of inertial sensors, software, and other systems for the GN&C of commercial and military aircraft, submarines, strategic and tactical missiles, spacecraft, and uncrewed vehicles.<ref name="Astronavigation">
{{Citation | last = NASA| first = Official Historian| title = Astronavigation - The First Apollo Contract| publisher = NASA| url = http://www.hq.nasa.gov/pao/History/SP-4205/ch2-4.html| access-date = 2013-12-23}}</ref> Inertial-based GN&C systems were central for navigating [[ballistic missile submarine]]s for long periods of time undersea to avoid detection, and guiding their [[submarine-launched ballistic missile]]s to their targets, starting with the [[UGM-27 Polaris]] missile program.

The Apollo software team was led by [[Margaret Hamilton (software engineer)|Margaret Hamilton]] (who wrote code to provide visual cues when prioritization was working correctly) and included work by programmers such as [[Hal Laning]], Dick Battin and [[Don Eyles]].