Samuel Langley
American physicist, pioneer of aviation, and 3rd Secretary of the Smithsonian
- Lived
- 1834–1906
Updated September 2026
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About Samuel Langley
Samuel Pierpont Langley was an American aviation pioneer, astronomer and physicist who invented the bolometer. He was the third secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and a professor of astronomy at the University of Pittsburgh, where he was the director of the Allegheny Observatory.
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Sources: book lists and dates from Wikidata and Open Library, ratings from Open Library readers, free texts from Project Gutenberg. Last updated September 2026.