The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1912-07-13
PLAN MEMORIAL
FOR S.P.LANGLEY
Tablet to Be Hung in Smithsonian
Institution, of Which He
Was Secretary.
WAS PIONEER IN AVIATION

A memorial tablet in honor OF Samuel
Pierpont Langley. late secretary Of the
| Smithsonian Institution and pioneer in
the invention of heavier-than-air flying
machines. is TO be hung in the Smith
| sOniar Building.
The memorial tablet has been designed
| by John Flanagan. a New York sculptor.
| The design. which is in low relief. will
| be executed IN marble The order for
| the memorial tablet was given 10 Mr..
| Flanagan by the board of regents Of the
Smithsonian. Of which Charles D. Wal
colt IS now secretary. The tablet will be
hung within a few months. the exact
date not having been determined.
Samuel Pierpont Langley, the physicist
and astronomer. was born at Roxbury,
near Boston, Mass. August ?. 1884. After
acting for a short time as assistant in
Harvard College Observatory he was ap-
pointed assistant professor Of nathe-
mates in the United States Naval Acad-
envy in Annapolis IN 1856 The following
year he was appointed director Of the
Allegheny Observatory at Pittsburg,
position which he held for twenty years.
until his selection, IN 1857. as secretary
| OF the Smithsonian Institution
Was Pioneer Aeronaut.
Prof. Langley's name is associated es-
pecially with two man branches OF in
estigation-aeronautics and the expIora-
ton OF lie infra-red portions OF the
solar spectrum.
In aeronautics he succeeded in demon
strating the possibility Of mech anical
fl ght He first established the principles
upon which fight depends. making tire
less investigation Of the flight OF birds.
He built at the Allegheny Observatory
a huge ''whirling table" the revolving
arm of which could be driven by
steam engine at any circumferential
speed up 10 seventy miles an hour. The
construction OF a flying machine was
next attempted. The first difficulty was
To make It sufficiently light in relation
to the power its machinery could de-
velop: and several machines were built
in which trials were made Of steam and
OF compressed air and Carbonic ac.d gas
as motive agents.
About 1893 a satisfactory machine was
ready and a new series Of troubles had
to be faced, for il had TO be launched at
! a certain initial speed and in the face
! Of any wind that might be blowing. To
/ enable these conditions TO be fulfilled as
we'll as to insure that the machine, 4
il fell. would fall on water, the expert
ments were carried out on the Potomac
River some thirty miles below this city.
Trials Were Successful.
II was not until the autumn OF 1894 that
an efficient launching apparatus was
devised. and then the wings were found
not to be strong enough TO bear the
pressUres to which they were subjected.
Various other days and mishaps fol-
lowed. but ultimately. on May 8. 1895.
a successful flight was made.
On that day 'aerodrcme. as Lang
ley called his flying machine. weighing
about thirty pounds and about sixteen
feet in length, with wings measuring
between twelve and thirteen feet from
tip 10 tip, twice sustained itself in the
air for one and a half minutes tthe full
time for which it had been supplied with
fueD and traversed on each. occasion
distance of over half mile, falling gent
~ into the water when the engines
stopped.
1t was not until 1893 nearly seven years
later. that Prof. Langley completed an
aerodrome sufficiently large to carry
man and be controlled. II was about four
times as large as the model which had
flown in 1895.
The machine however failed in actual
operation. Accident after accident Oc-
CURED TO prevent it from being launched
and lives were ri<ked III attempting To
DO so. Finally. through lack 81 funds.
the experiments were abandoned without
the machine ever having been free in
the air.
Three years later. his health greatly
undermined by the ridicule heaped upon
his unsuccessful attempts. Prof. Langley
died. on February =. 1886.
His aeronautic experiments have been
of great value TO the Wright brothers
and other pioneers in the field.
In the field of astronomy he distin
guished himself by the invention. about
1880. of the bolometer. an instrument
Of extraordinary dclicaCy. which in its
most refined form is believed to be ca
pable Of detecting a change of temper
atUre amounting TO less than lOO.0 OO.-
UO0th OF a degree centigrade.
BY the aid of this instrument Lang
ley. working on Mount Whitney. L..
600 feet above sea level, discovered IN
1881 an entirely unsupported extension
Of the invisible infra-red rays of light.
which he called the new spectrum"
The achievement was one of extreme
Importance.