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[[underlined]] Naming the National Air and Space Museum Theater for S. P. Langley [[/underlined]]

The Secretary suggested that it would be most appropriate to name the theater of the National Air ad Space Museum in honor of Samuel Pierpont Langley (1834-1906). As third Secretary of the Smithsonian, Langley was responsible for significant expansion of the Institution: for establishing the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, the National Zoological Park, the Freer Gallery of Art, and for initiating the Smithsonian's modern emphasis on exhibitions and public programs. He deserves recognition as a major force in shaping the course of Smithsonian development.

As a notable astrophysicist and a renowned aeronautical experimenter, Secretary Langley is the National Air and Space Museum's link to Smithsonian history. The Museum has joined the Secretary in the hope of naming its principal auditorium in Langley's honor, following the precedent of the Spencer Fullerton Baird Auditorium at the National Museum of Natural History/Museum of Man and the Leonard Carmichael Auditorium at the National Museum of History and Technology. A bronze bust of Langley by Joseph Atchinson and an appropriate plaque commemorating the Secretary and his achievements can be exhibited near the theater's entrance.

In the past the naming of Smithsonian facilities for individuals has been by resolution of the Board of Regents, and therefore the Regents approved the following motion:

VOTED that the Board of Regents, recognizing the manifold contributions to the Smithsonian and to the fields of astrophysics and aeronautics, designates the theater in the National Air and Space Museum as the Samuel Pierpont Langley Theater.