In June 1940 the National Defense Research Committee (NDRC) was established by the United States government to coordinate military research. Vannevar Bush, head of the NDRC, organized the committee into five divisions and chose Karl T. Compton to head the division for the microwave detection of radar. Compton formed a Microwave Committee, headed by Alfred L. Loomis, which decided that a central laboratory was needed to focus on three projects: microwaves, high-accuracy gunlaying radar, and aircraft navigation. Physicist Lee DuBridge was chosen as director of the laboratory, which was named the Radiation Laboratory to disguise its real function. The laboratory, established at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1940, grew from a staff of 30 physicists to almost 3900 people by late 1945. The "Rad Lab" designed almost half of the radar deployed in World War II, created over 100 different radar systems, and constructed radar systems on several continents. The lab was officially terminated in December 1945. Beginning July 1, 1946, the laboratory continued operations as the MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics.