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RLE’s ability to encourage efforts in multiple
disciplines has made the Laboratory an extraordinary
incubator of activities that have grown to be MIT departments
and some of the major research centers of MIT.
1951 - RLE research
in continental air defense, associated with MIT's Project
Charles, helps to spawn MIT Lincoln Laboratory.
1956 - RLE begins
collaboration with the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary
to form the new Eaton-Peabody Laboratory, where RLE's
Nelson Y.S. Kiang is the first director.
1961 - The MIT
Department of Linguistics is formed, with major part
of its nucleus composed of RLE researchers in human
communication.
1963 - J.C.R.
Licklider, formerly of RLE, funds ARPA's Project MAC
at MIT with RLE's Robert M. Fano as its first director.
Project MAC spawns both the Artificial Intelligence
(AI) Laboratory in 1970 and the Laboratory of Computer
Science (LCS) in 1975. The two laboratories later merge
to become the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence
Laboratory (CSAIL) in 2003.
1976 - MIT's
Plasma Fusion Center (now the Plasma Science and Fusion
Center) is formed, with a significant part of its nucleus
composed of RLE's research in experimental plasma physics
and engineering.
2000 - RLE's
Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics group joins with
colleagues from Harvard University to form the Center
for Ultracold Atoms, a major new NSF center.
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