Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory

The Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology, known by the acronym GALCIT, was a research institute created in 1926 that at first specialized in aeronautics research. Theodore von Karman became its director in 1930, and the laboratory began rocket research in 1936, making it the first, and for several years the only, university-based rocket research center in the country. GALCIT's jet-assisted takeoff rocket project led directly to the founding of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory under an Army contract in November 1943. The laboratory was renamed the Graduate Aeronautical Laboratories in 1961 and the Graduate Aerospace Laboratories in 2006, keeping the GALCIT acronym throughout. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/