A Cute Description of Langley

After Gibbs, one the most distinguished [American scientists] was Langley, of the Smithsonian. … He had the physicist's heinous fault of professing to know nothing between flashes of intense perception. ... Rigidly denying himself the amusement of philosophy, which consists chiefly in suggesting unintelligible answers to insoluble problems, and liked to wander past them in a courteous temper, even bowing to them distantly as though recognizing their existence, while doubting their respectib...

 A 1985 View of Science and Technology in Year 2000

The glib words of years past from our politicians are hollow nightmares indeed when we are confronted with the staggering realities of what has to be done. But the key is there--technology, using it-and we hardly do now. The future may be unpredictable, but we can make a few well-aimed guesses about what life will be like in the year 2000. We’ll fly on supersonic transports, or more likely hypersonic transports, for which the ground work (or should I call it air work) has already been laid ...