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RLE began in 1946 in the former location of the wartime
MIT Radiation Laboratory in "temporary" MIT
building 20 (which was finally demolished in 1998
to make way for the new Stata Complex). This wooden
barracks-type structure on Vassar Street in Cambridge
soon became obsolete for the rapidly growing RLE.
In 1957, while retaining significant activities in building
20, the majority of RLE moved into the newly constructed
Karl Taylor Compton Laboratories (MIT building 26).
Dr. Compton had been MIT's ninth president, and it was
during his term that the Radiation Laboratory was established
at MIT. RLE shared building 26 with the Laboratory for
Nuclear Science and the MIT Computation Center.
In 1973, the growing Laboratory expanded further into
all of the new building 36 within the Sherman Fairchild
Electrical Engineering and Electronics Complex. Located
at 50 Vassar Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Fairchild
complex includes an eight-storey structure which houses
core space of the Research Laboratory of Electronics(
MIT building 36), an adjoining six-storey structure
(MIT building 38) housing RLE laboratories, the Department
of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and the
Microsystems Technology Laboratories.
The six-storey EG&G Education Center (MIT building
34) was constructed in 1983, which provides a physical
link between the two buildings and additional conference
and lecture rooms.
At the time of its completion in 1973, the Fairchild
Complex was the single largest building project at MIT
since the Cambridge campus was constructed in 1916.
The complex is named in memory of Sherman M. Fairchild,
the late founder and chairman of Fairchild Camera and
Instrument Corporation, Fairchild Semiconductor, Fairchild
Industries, and the Fairchild Foundation.
The Chicago firm of Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill designed
the two concrete and glass buildings which contain classrooms,
laboratories, offices, instrument rooms, and mechanical
and electronic shops.
Since 1997, over $12M has been re-invested back into
the core RLE facilities in MIT buildings 26, 36, and
38 in the form of extensive laboratory and office renovations.
Additional significant renovations are underway today.
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