Langley, Samuel Pierpont (1834-1906), was an American astronomer, physicist, and pioneer in aeronautics. His interest in aerodynamics (the motion of gases around a body) led him to experiment with heavier-than-air flying machines. His power-driven models made some flights of about 1/2 mile (0.8 kilometer) in 1896. The U.S. government later gave Langley $50,000 to build a passenger-carrying “aerodrome.” This machine twice was launched from a houseboat on the Potomac River in 1903. Both tests failed, but one using a smaller model succeeded. The second full-size model test was made in December 1903, shortly before the Wright brothers’ epoch-making flight near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
In 1914, eight years after Langley’s death, several changes were made in his “aerodrome” machine, and the aviation pioneer Glenn H. Curtiss flew it at Hammondsport, New York. The United States Navy honored Langley by naming its first aircraft carrier after him. It was sunk in the Java Sea early in 1942. A second carrier named Langley served later in World War II (1939-1945). Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia is also named for him.
Langley was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, on Aug. 22, 1834. He attended Boston Latin School. He spent several years studying architecture and engineering before turning to astronomy. His inventions included the bolometer, a device that measures the sun’s radiation (see Bolometer ).
From 1867 to 1887, Langley was professor of physics and astronomy, and director of the Allegheny Observatory, at the Western University of Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh. He served as secretary of the Smithsonian Institution from 1887 until his death on Feb. 27, 1906. While in this office, he established the National Zoological Park and the Astrophysical Observatory. His writings include Experiments in Aerodynamics (1891) and The Internal Work of the Wind (1893).
