Samuel Pierpont Langley

Samuel Pierpont Langley (August 22 1834 in Roxbury, Massachusetts near Boston, – February 27 1906, Aiken, South Carolina) was an American astronomer, physicist, inventor and pioneer of aviation. He was the third Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and the founder of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.

References

• A Heritage of Wings, An Illustrated History of Naval Aviation, by Richard C. Knott, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland, 1997
• Aviation, The Pioneer Years, edited by Ben Mackworth-Praed, Studio Editions, Ltd., London, 1990