Samuel Pierpont Langley (August 22, 1834 – February 27, 1906) was an American
aviation
Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot air ...
pioneer,
astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, g ...
and
physicist
A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe.
Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...
who
invented the
bolometer
A bolometer is a device for measuring radiant heat by means of a material having a temperature-dependent electrical resistance. It was invented in 1878 by the American astronomer Samuel Pierpont Langley.
Principle of operation
A bolometer ...
. He was the third secretary of the
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
and a professor of astronomy at the
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...
, where he was the director of the
Allegheny Observatory
The Allegheny Observatory is an American astronomical research institution, a part of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Pittsburgh. The facility is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (ref. # 79002157, ad ...
.
Life
Langley was born in
Roxbury, Boston
Roxbury () is a Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood within the City of Boston, Massachusetts.
Roxbury is a Municipal annexation in the United States, dissolved municipality and one of 23 official neighborhoods of Boston used by the city for n ...
, on August 23, 1834.
Langley attended
Boston Latin School
The Boston Latin School is a public exam school in Boston, Massachusetts. It was established on April 23, 1635, making it both the oldest public school in the British America and the oldest existing school in the United States. Its curriculum f ...
and graduated from
English High School of Boston
The English High School of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, is one of the first public high schools in America, founded in 1821. Originally called The English Classical School, it was renamed The English High School upon its first relocation ...
, after which he became an assistant in the
Harvard College Observatory
The Harvard College Observatory (HCO) is an institution managing a complex of buildings and multiple instruments used for astronomical research by the Harvard University Department of Astronomy. It is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United St ...
. He then moved to a job at the
United States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy ...
, ostensibly as a professor of mathematics. However, he was actually sent there to restore the Academy's small observatory. In 1867, he became the director of the
Allegheny Observatory
The Allegheny Observatory is an American astronomical research institution, a part of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Pittsburgh. The facility is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (ref. # 79002157, ad ...
and a professor of astronomy at the
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...
(then known as the
Western University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...
), a post he kept until 1891 even while he became the third Secretary of the
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
in 1887. Langley was the founder of the
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) is a research institute of the Smithsonian Institution, concentrating on astrophysical studies including galactic and extragalactic astronomy, cosmology, solar, earth and planetary sciences, the ...
. In 1875, he was elected as a member to the
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
. In 1888 Langley was elected a member of the
American Antiquarian Society
The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is both a learned society and a national research library of pre-twentieth-century American history and culture. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest historical society in ...
. In 1898, he received the
Prix Jules Janssen
The Prix Jules Janssen is the highest award of the Société astronomique de France (SAF), the French astronomical society.
This annual prize is given to a professional French astronomer or to an astronomer of another nationality in recognition ...
, the highest award of the
Société astronomique de France
The Société astronomique de France (SAF; ), the French astronomical society, is a non-profit association in the public interest organized under French law (Association loi de 1901). Founded by astronomer Camille Flammarion in 1887, its purpose ...
, the French astronomical society.
Allegheny Observatory
Langley arrived in Pittsburgh in 1867 to become the first director of the Allegheny Observatory, after the institution had fallen into hard times and been given to the Western University of Pennsylvania. By then, the department was in disarray – equipment was broken, there was no library and the building needed repairs. Through the friendship and aid of
William Thaw Sr., a Pittsburgh industrial leader, Langley was able to improve the observatory equipment and build additional apparatuses. One of the new instruments was a small transit telescope used to observe the position of the stars as they cross the celestial meridian.
He raised money for the department in large part by distributing standard time to cities and railroads. Up until then, correct time had only occasionally been sent from American observatories for public use. Clocks were manually wound in those days and time tended to be imprecise. Exact time had not been especially necessary. It was enough to know that at noon the sun was at its highest elevation for the day. That changed with the arrival of railroads, which made the lack of standard time dangerous. Trains ran by a published schedule, but scheduling was chaotic. If the timepieces of an engineer and a switch operator differed by even a minute or two, trains could be on the same track at the same time and collide.
Using astronomical observations obtained from the new telescope, Langley devised a precise time standard, including time zones, that became known as the
Allegheny Time System. Initially he distributed time signals to Allegheny city businesses and the
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...
. Eventually, twice a day, the Allegheny time signals gave the correct time via 4,713 miles of telegraph lines to all railroads in the US and Canada. Langley used the money from the railroads to finance the observatory. From about 1868 revenues from Allegheny Time continued to fund the observatory, until the US Naval Observatory provided the signals via taxpayer funding in 1883.
Once funding was secure, Langley devoted his time at the Observatory initially in researching the sun. He used his draftsman skills—from his first job out of high school—to produce hundreds of drawings of solar phenomena, many of which were the first the world had seen. His remarkably detailed 1873 illustration of a sun spot, observed while using the observatory's 13-inch Fitz-Clark refractor became a classic. It is featured on page 21 of his book, ''The New Astronomy'', and was also widely reprinted in the Americas and Europe.
In 1886, Langley received the inaugural
Henry Draper Medal
The Henry Draper Medal is awarded every 4 years by the United States National Academy of Sciences "for investigations in astrophysics, astronomical physics". Named after Henry Draper, the medal is awarded with a gift of USD $15,000. The medal was ...
from the
National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...
for his contributions to
solar physics.
His publication in 1890 of infrared observations at the Allegheny Observatory in Pittsburgh together with
Frank Washington Very
Frank Washington Very (February 12, 1852 – November 23, 1927) was a U.S. astronomer, astrophysicist, and meteorologist. He was born at Salem, Massachusetts, and educated at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1873) where he taught physic ...
along with the data he collected from his invention, the bolometer, was used by
Svante Arrhenius
Svante August Arrhenius ( , ; 19 February 1859 – 2 October 1927) was a Swedes, Swedish scientist. Originally a physicist, but often referred to as a chemist, Arrhenius was one of the founders of the science of physical chemistry. He received ...
to make the first calculations on the
greenhouse effect
The greenhouse effect is a process that occurs when energy from a planet's host star goes through the planet's atmosphere and heats the planet's surface, but greenhouse gases in the atmosphere prevent some of the heat from returning directly ...
. In 1898, Langley received the
Prix Jules Janssen
The Prix Jules Janssen is the highest award of the Société astronomique de France (SAF), the French astronomical society.
This annual prize is given to a professional French astronomer or to an astronomer of another nationality in recognition ...
, the highest award of the
Société astronomique de France
The Société astronomique de France (SAF; ), the French astronomical society, is a non-profit association in the public interest organized under French law (Association loi de 1901). Founded by astronomer Camille Flammarion in 1887, its purpose ...
(the French astronomical society).
Aviation work
![Samuel Pierpont Langley's steam Aërodrome No](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Samuel_Pierpont_Langley%27s_steam_A%C3%ABrodrome_No._5_in_flight.png)
Langley attempted to make a working piloted heavier-than-air
aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines ...
. His models flew, but his two attempts at piloted flight were not successful. Langley began experimenting with rubber-band powered
model
A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a measure.
Models c ...
s and
glider
Glider may refer to:
Aircraft and transport Aircraft
* Glider (aircraft), heavier-than-air aircraft primarily intended for unpowered flight
** Glider (sailplane), a rigid-winged glider aircraft with an undercarriage, used in the sport of glidin ...
s in 1887. (According to one book, he was not able to reproduce
Alphonse Pénaud
Alphonse Pénaud (31 May 1850 – 22 October 1880), was a 19th-century French pioneer of aviation design and engineering. He was the originator of the use of twisted rubber to power model aircraft, and his 1871 model airplane, which he called ...
's time aloft with rubber power but persisted anyway.) He built a rotating arm that functioned like a
wind tunnel
Wind tunnels are large tubes with air blowing through them which are used to replicate the interaction between air and an object flying through the air or moving along the ground. Researchers use wind tunnels to learn more about how an aircraft ...
, and made larger flying models powered by miniature
steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...
s. Langley realised that sustained powered flight was possible when he found that a 1 lb. brass plate suspended from the rotating arm by a spring, could be kept aloft by a spring tension of less than 1 oz.
Langley understood that aircraft need
thrust
Thrust is a reaction force described quantitatively by Newton's third law. When a system expels or accelerates mass in one direction, the accelerated mass will cause a force of equal magnitude but opposite direction to be applied to that syst ...
to overcome
drag from forward speed, observed higher
aspect ratio flat plates had higher
lift
Lift or LIFT may refer to:
Physical devices
* Elevator, or lift, a device used for raising and lowering people or goods
** Paternoster lift, a type of lift using a continuous chain of cars which do not stop
** Patient lift, or Hoyer lift, mobile ...
and lower drag, and stated in 1902 "A plane of fixed size and weight would need less propulsive power the faster it flew", the counter-intuitive effect of
induced drag
In aerodynamics, lift-induced drag, induced drag, vortex drag, or sometimes drag due to lift, is an aerodynamic drag force that occurs whenever a moving object redirects the airflow coming at it. This drag force occurs in airplanes due to wings or ...
.
He met the writer
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work.
...
around this time, who described one of Langley's experiments in his autobiography:
His first success came on May 6, 1896 when his Number 5 unpiloted model weighing made two flights of and after a catapult launch from a boat on the Potomac River. The distance was ten times longer than any previous experiment with a heavier-than-air flying machine, demonstrating that
stability
Stability may refer to:
Mathematics
*Stability theory, the study of the stability of solutions to differential equations and dynamical systems
**Asymptotic stability
**Linear stability
**Lyapunov stability
**Orbital stability
**Structural stabilit ...
and sufficient
lift
Lift or LIFT may refer to:
Physical devices
* Elevator, or lift, a device used for raising and lowering people or goods
** Paternoster lift, a type of lift using a continuous chain of cars which do not stop
** Patient lift, or Hoyer lift, mobile ...
could be achieved in such craft.
![Langley Aerodrome 01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Langley_Aerodrome_01.JPG)
On November 11 that year his Number 6 model flew more than . In 1898, based on the success of his models, Langley received a
War Department War Department may refer to:
* War Department (United Kingdom)
* United States Department of War (1789–1947)
See also
* War Office, a former department of the British Government
* Ministry of defence
* Ministry of War
* Ministry of Defence
* Dep ...
grant of $50,000 and $20,000 from the Smithsonian to develop a piloted airplane, which he called an "
Aerodrome
An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publ ...
" (coined from Greek words roughly translated as "air runner"). Langley hired
Charles M. Manly
Charles Matthews Manly (1876–1927) was an American engineer.
Manly helped Smithsonian Institution Secretary Samuel Pierpont Langley build The Great Aerodrome, which was intended to be a manned, powered, winged flying machine. Manly made major ...
(1876–1927) as
engineer
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...
and
test pilot
A test pilot is an aircraft pilot with additional training to fly and evaluate experimental, newly produced and modified aircraft with specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques.Stinton, Darrol. ''Flying Qualities and Flight Testing ...
. When Langley received word from his friend
Octave Chanute
Octave Chanute (February 18, 1832 – November 23, 1910) was a French-American civil engineer and aviation pioneer. He provided many budding enthusiasts, including the Wright brothers, with help and advice, and helped to publicize their flying ...
of the
Wright brothers' success with their 1902 glider, he attempted to meet the Wrights, but they politely evaded his request.
![Samuel Pierpont Langley and Charles M](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Samuel_Pierpont_Langley_and_Charles_M._Manly_-_GPN-2000-001298.jpg)
While the full-scale Aerodrome was being designed and built, the
internal combustion engine
An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal combus ...
was contracted out to manufacturer
Stephen M. Balzer (1864–1940). When he failed to produce an engine to the power and weight specifications, Manly finished the design. This engine had far more power than did the engine for the Wright brothers' first airplane—50 hp compared to 12 hp. The engine, mostly the technical work of men other than Langley, was probably the project's main contribution to aviation.
The piloted machine had wire-braced tandem wings (one behind the other). It had a Pénaud tail for pitch and yaw control but no roll control, depending instead on the
dihedral angle
A dihedral angle is the angle between two intersecting planes or half-planes. In chemistry, it is the clockwise angle between half-planes through two sets of three atoms, having two atoms in common. In solid geometry, it is defined as the uni ...
of the wings, as did the models, for maintaining roughly level flight.
![Samuel Pierpont Langley - Potomac experiment 1903](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Samuel_Pierpont_Langley_-_Potomac_experiment_1903.jpeg)
In contrast to the Wright brothers' design of a controllable airplane that could fly with assistance from a strong headwind and land on solid ground, Langley sought safety by practicing in calm air over the
Potomac River
The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augus ...
. This required a
catapult
A catapult is a ballistic device used to launch a projectile a great distance without the aid of gunpowder or other propellants – particularly various types of ancient and medieval siege engines. A catapult uses the sudden release of stored p ...
for launching. The craft had no
landing gear
Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for takeoff or landing. For aircraft it is generally needed for both. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, such as the Glenn L. Martin ...
, the plan being to descend into the water after demonstrating flight which if successful would entail a partial, if not total, rebuilding of the machine. Langley gave up the project after two crashes on take-off on October 7 and December 8, 1903.
In the first attempt, Langley said the wing clipped part of the catapult, leading to a plunge into the river "like a handful of mortar," according to one reporter. On the second attempt the craft broke up as it left the catapult (Hallion, 2003; Nalty, 2003). Manly was recovered unhurt from the river both times. Newspapers made great sport of the failures, and some members of Congress strongly criticized the project.
![Samuel Pierpont Langley - Quarterscale model, 1896](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/Samuel_Pierpont_Langley_-_Quarterscale_model%2C_1896.jpg)
The Aerodrome was modified and flown a few hundred feet by
Glenn Curtiss
Glenn Hammond Curtiss (May 21, 1878 – July 23, 1930) was an American aviation and motorcycling pioneer, and a founder of the U.S. aircraft industry. He began his career as a bicycle racer and builder before moving on to motorcycles. As early ...
in 1914, as part of his attempt to fight the Wright brothers' patent, and as an effort by the Smithsonian to rescue Langley's aeronautical reputation. Nevertheless, courts upheld the patent. However, the Curtiss flights emboldened the Smithsonian to display the Aerodrome in its museum as "the first man-carrying aeroplane in the history of the world capable of sustained free flight". Fred Howard, extensively documenting the controversy, wrote: "It was a lie pure and simple, but it bore the imprimatur of the venerable Smithsonian and over the years would find its way into magazines, history books, and encyclopedias, much to the annoyance of those familiar with the facts." (Howard, 1987). The Smithsonian's action triggered a decades-long feud with the surviving Wright brother, Orville, who objected to the Institution's claim of primacy for the Aerodrome.
Unlike the Wright brothers with their invention of
three-axis control, Langley had no effective way of controlling an airplane too big to be maneuvered by the weight of the pilot's body. So if the Aerodrome had flown stably, as the models did, Manly would have been in considerable danger when the machine descended, uncontrolled, for a landing—especially if it had wandered away from the river and over solid ground.
Bolometer
In 1880 Langley invented the
bolometer
A bolometer is a device for measuring radiant heat by means of a material having a temperature-dependent electrical resistance. It was invented in 1878 by the American astronomer Samuel Pierpont Langley.
Principle of operation
A bolometer ...
, an instrument initially used for measuring far infrared radiation. The bolometer has enabled scientists to detect a change of temperature of less than 1/100,000 of a degree Celsius. It laid the foundation for the measurements of the amount of solar energy on the Earth. He published an 1881 paper on it, "The Bolometer and Radiant Energy". He made one of the first attempts to measure the surface temperature of the Moon, and his measurement of interference of the infrared radiation by carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere was used by
Svante Arrhenius
Svante August Arrhenius ( , ; 19 February 1859 – 2 October 1927) was a Swedes, Swedish scientist. Originally a physicist, but often referred to as a chemist, Arrhenius was one of the founders of the science of physical chemistry. He received ...
in 1896 to make the first calculation of how climate would change from a future doubling of carbon dioxide levels.
Commercial time service
Starting with his tenure at
Allegheny Observatory
The Allegheny Observatory is an American astronomical research institution, a part of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Pittsburgh. The facility is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (ref. # 79002157, ad ...
in the
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
area in the late 1860s, Langley was a major player in the development of astronomically derived and regulated time distribution services in America through the later half of the 19th century. His work with the railroads in this area is often cited as central to the establishment of the
Standard Time
Standard time is the synchronisation of clocks within a geographical region to a single time standard, rather than a local mean time standard. Generally, standard time agrees with the local mean time at some meridian that passes through the r ...
Zones system. His very successful and profitable time sales to the
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...
stood out among the many non-government-based observatories of the day who were largely subsidizing their research by time-service sales to regional railroads and the cities they served. The
United States Naval Observatory
United States Naval Observatory (USNO) is a scientific and military facility that produces geopositioning, navigation and timekeeping data for the United States Navy and the United States Department of Defense. Established in 1830 as the Depo ...
's increasing dominance in this field threatened these regional observatories' livelihoods and Langley became a leader in efforts to preserve the viability of their commercial programs.
Death
Langley held himself responsible for the loss of funds after the June 1905 discovery that Smithsonian accountant William Karr was
embezzling
Embezzlement is a crime that consists of withholding assets for the purpose of conversion of such assets, by one or more persons to whom the assets were entrusted, either to be held or to be used for specific purposes. Embezzlement is a type ...
from the Institution. Langley refused his salary in the aftermath. In November he suffered a stroke. In February 1906 he moved to Aiken, South Carolina to recuperate, but had another stroke and died on February 27. He was buried in
Forest Hills Cemetery
Forest Hills Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery, greenspace, arboretum and sculpture garden located in the Forest Hills section of the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. The cemetery was established in 1848 as a public ...
in Boston.
Legacy
Air and sea craft, facilities, a unit of solar radiation, and an award have been named in Langley's honor, including:
*
Langley Gold Medal
The Langley Gold Medal, or Samuel P. Langley Medal for Aerodromics, is an award given by the Smithsonian Institution for outstanding contributions to the sciences of aeronautics and astronautics. Named in honor of Samuel P. Langley, the Smithsonia ...
by the
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
*
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
Langley Research Center
The Langley Research Center (LaRC or NASA Langley), located in Hampton, Virginia, United States of America, is the oldest of NASA's field centers. It directly borders Langley Air Force Base and the Back River on the Chesapeake Bay. LaRC has fo ...
(NASA LaRC),
Hampton, Virginia
Hampton () is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 137,148. It is the List ...
*
Langley Air Force Base
Langley Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located in Hampton, Virginia, adjacent to Newport News, Virginia, Newport News. It was one of List of airfields of the Training Section of the United States Army Air Service, thirty-two ...
*
Langley Hall at the
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...
*
Langley High School in Pittsburgh
*
Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory
*
Langley unit of
solar radiation
Solar irradiance is the power per unit area (surface power density) received from the Sun in the form of electromagnetic radiation in the wavelength range of the measuring instrument.
Solar irradiance is measured in watts per square metre (W/m ...
*
Mount Langley
Mount Langley is a mountain located on the crest of the Sierra Nevada, on the boundary between Inyo and Tulare counties in eastern California, in the United States. To the east is the Owens Valley, and to the west is the Kern River Valley. It ...
in the
Sierra Nevada
The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...
*
* , laid down 10 July 1942 and renamed ''Hammann'' on 1 August 1942
*
*
Seadrome Langley, intended as one in a chain of Atlantic aviation way-stations, cancelled due to the Depression
* , U.S.
Liberty Ship
Liberty ships were a class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Though British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost construction. Mass ...
* Samuel P. Langley Elementary School in Hampton, VA.
Media
In the 1978 film ''
The Winds of Kitty Hawk
''The Winds of Kitty Hawk'' is a 1978 American made-for-television biographical film directed by E. W. Swackhamer about the Wright brothers and their invention of the first successful powered heavier-than-air flying machine, the ''Wright Flyer' ...
'', he was portrayed by actor
John Hoyt
John Hoyt (born John McArthur Hoysradt; October 5, 1905 – September 15, 1991) was an American actor. He began his acting career on Broadway, later appearing in numerous films and television series.
He is perhaps best known for his film and TV ...
.
See also
*
Manly–Balzer engine
The Manly–Balzer was the first purpose-designed aircraft engine, built in 1901 for the Langley Aerodrome project. The engine was originally ordered from Stephen Balzer (1864–1940) in New York, but his five-cylinder radial engine design faile ...
References
Notes
Bibliography
*''A Dream of Wings: Americans and the Airplane, 1875-1905,'' by Dr. Tom D. Crouch, W. W. Norton, 1981
*''Taking Flight: Inventing the Aerial Age, from Antiquity through the First World War'', by Dr. Richard P. Hallion, Oxford University Press, 2003
*''Wilbur and Orville: A Biography of the Wright Brothers'', by Fred Howard, Dover, 1987
*''A Heritage of Wings, An Illustrated History of Naval Aviation'', by Richard C. Knott, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland, 1997
*''Winged Shield, Winged Sword: 1907-1950: A History of the United States Air Force'', by Bernard C. Nalty, University Press of the Pacific, 2003
*''Aviation, The Pioneer Years'', edited by Ben Mackworth-Praed, Studio Editions, Ltd., London, 1990
* ''To Conquer The Air—The Wright Brothers and the Great Race for Flight'', by James Tobin, Free Press, division of Simon & Schuster, 2003
* "Vita ed opere dell'astronomo e costruttore aeronautico Samuel Pierpont Langley", by Giuseppe Ciampaglia. ''Rivista Storica''; Gennaio 1996.
*''Selling the True Time: nineteenth-century timekeeping in America'', by Ian R. Bartky, Stanford University Press, 2000
External links
Finding Aid to Samuel P. Langley's Papers at the Smithsonian Institution Archives*
ttp://www.flyingmachines.org/lang.html Samuel Pierpont Langley, Flying MachinesSamuel Pierpont Langley, Invention of the AirplaneCentennial of FlightAllegheny Observatory – "UNDAUNTED: The Forgotten Giants of the Allegheny Observatory?"National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir
{{DEFAULTSORT:Langley, Samuel
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1906 deaths
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