The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), founded in 1936 and given its present name in 1944, is a government contract research facility that has been operated for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration by the California Institute of Technology since 1958. It is located in Pasadena, Calif., and has a staff of 4,200, of whom 1,700 are scientists. In the 1930s the laboratory helped carry out the early rocket work of Robert Goddard. During World War II, JPL became a large research and development establishment. Since 1958, JPL has concentrated on work with unpiloted scientific missions to the Moon and the planets, as well as on research in physics, propulsion, electronics, and related subjects.