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Meeting	ACGS Committee Meeting 121 - Tucson, AZ - April 2018
Agenda Location	9 SUBCOMMITTEE B – Missiles and Space 9.2 How Doc Draper Became the Father of Inertial Guidance
Title	How Doc Draper Became the Father of Inertial Guidance
Presenter	Phil Hattis
Affiliation	Draper
Available Downloads*	presentation paper
	Downloads are available to members who are logged in and either Active* or attended this meeting.
Abstract	Charles Stark “Doc” Draper went from Missouri boyhood roots to become a developer and orchestrator of advanced inertial navigation capabilities for air, missile, and space applications. He got degrees in psychology, electro-chemical engineering and physics that prepared him for both instrument technology invention and development team formulation. Key inertial system contributions over his career included: Advances in aircraft engine instrumentation that enabled longer non-stop flights; dramatic improvements in anti-aircraft gun sights that turned the tide of the war in the Pacific; precision inertial navigation for long-duration flight; guidance system development for submarine-launched ballistic missiles enabling Polaris, Poseidon, and Trident; and guidance, navigation, control and computer development for deep space flight that enabled Apollo. Doc Draper’s success benefitted greatly from his graduate students, and the laboratory he created that attracted extraordinarily creative staff. His legacies includes a renowned namesake, not-for-profit research institution and an annual Nobel-class engineering award.