Abstract: As the core laboratory of the Second World War radar project, the American MIT Radiation Laboratory has an important influence on post-war science. The paper explores the characteristics and formation mechanism of MIT Radiation Laboratory based on the theory of non-profit organization. With properties of non-profit organizations, radiation laboratory highlights the characteristics of non-profit organizations:organizational, non-governmental, non-profit, autonomous and voluntary. The formation mechanism of its characteristics includes special civic society as its social basement, specific historical events as its trigger mechanism, the development of American foreign policy as its policy supporter and the rise of the civilian scientists elite in America during World War Ⅱ as its intelligence guarantee.