Draper, originally founded as the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, was established by its namesake founder Charles Stark Draper, an eminent American aeronautical engineer widely recognized as the father of modern inertial navigation. Initially operating as an academic research and development division under the auspices of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the organization was created to advance precision guidance, navigation, and control systems for military defense, aerospace exploration, and marine navigation before eventually spinning off into an independent, non-profit engineering institution.