244 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1956 



the Civil War and had the duty of giving advice to the Government, 

 when asked. The Academy, as a body, was not asked for advice on 

 this matter, but its members appear to have been influential in per- 

 suading President Taft to appoint on December 19, 1912, a 19-man 

 commission to consider such a national laboratory and its scope, or- 

 ganization, and cost, and to make a recommendation to the Congress. 



The President's Commission was headed by Dr. R. S. Woodward 

 of the National Academy of Sciences and the Carnegie Institution of 

 Washington and included Dr. Walcott. The Army, Navy, Weather 

 Bureau, and Bureau of Standards were represented, as well as inter- 

 ested civilians. The Commission recommended that the laboratory 

 be established in Washington and administered by the regents of the 

 Smithsonian Institution. President Maclaurin of the Massachusetts 

 Institute of Technology objected to the location at Washington, which 

 the majority report favored as "conveniently accessible to statesmen 

 of the National Government who may wish to witness aeroplane 

 demonstrations." 



Unfortunately, the President had appointed the Commission with- 

 out "the advice and consent of the Senate." Authorizing legislation 

 failed to get unanimous consent and the Commission's report was 

 buried in the archives. 



Probably as a result of his service with the President's Commission, 

 President Maclaurin in May 1913 persuaded the Corporation of 

 M. I. T. to authorize a graduate course in aeronautical engineering and 

 a wind tunnel for aerodynamic research in the Department of Naval 

 Architecture. He requested the Secretary of the Navy to detail an 

 officer of the Construction Corps to take charge. The writer was so 

 detailed for 3 years. 



At about the same time, the Smithsonian regents decided to reopen 

 Langley's old laboratory, with Dr. Albert F. Zahm in charge. It was 

 arranged by Walcott and Maclaurin to send Zahm and Hunsaker 

 abroad, armed with personal introductions to scientific friends. Their 

 objective was to visit the principal aeronautical research laboratories 

 and, as far as possible, to learn how to operate the special facilities 

 and equipment in use there with a view to duplicating them in this 

 country. 



Visits were made to the Royal Aircraft Factory, the National 

 Physical Laboratory, and Cambridge University in England; to the 

 St. Cyr, Chalais-Meudon, and Eiffel Laboratories in France; and to 

 the Deutsche Versuchsanstalt fiir Luftfahrt and Gottingen Univer- 

 sity in Germany. In 1913, security restrictions did not apply to 

 scientific and engineering work and the visitors were cordially re- 

 ceived. In fact, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology later 

 built its wind tunnel from drawings supplied by Sir Richard Glaze- 

 brook of the N. P. L. and had the N. P. L. aerodynamic balances dupli- 



