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.
Langley, circa 1895
Langley Aerodrome No. 6 at Posvar Hall, University of Pittsburgh
Langley, right, with test pilot Charles Manly
First failure of the manned Aerodrome, Potomac River, Oct. 7, 1903
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.
Spiderweb bolometer for measurements of the cosmic microwave background radiation. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.