280 AKNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1961 



release Wilson repeated that it would perhaps be possible under ideal 

 conditions of weather and illumination to see the satellite with the 

 naked eye. However, he continued, the principal means of observation 

 and tracking would be by scientific instruments, including telescopes, 

 theodolites, and electronic devices. Predictions of the position and 

 path of the satellite were to be determined by electronic computers, 

 and these data would be disseminated to all participating scientists. 



On October 6, 1955, the Department of Defense announced that 

 work had begun on Project Vanguard, the name assigned to the 

 rocket-satellite package of the Naval Research Laboratory. The 

 Russians had also annomiced that they would launch satellites during 

 the IGY, and a number of nations, including the United Kingdom, 

 France, Japan, Australia, and Canada, planned to include rocket 

 launchings in their IGY programs. 



THE SMITHSONIAN ASTROPHYSICAL OBSERVATORY 



The Smithsonian had had wide experience in research and fieldwork. 

 The Institution is and always has been much more than a collection 

 of museums. The first Secretary of the Institution, Joseph Henry, 

 was, in the words of the astronomer Simon Newcomb, "the first 

 American after Franklin to reach high eminence as an original in- 

 vestigator in physical science." ^ He set the pattern and tradition of 

 scientific investigation that has continued fruitfully for more than 

 a century. From its very beginning the Smithsonian has maintained 

 a staff of research scientists who have devoted themselves to a great 

 variety of projects. 



One of the earliest plans presented to the Institution was that for 

 making weather observations on a systematic, scientific basis. The 

 program got underway in 1847, and 2 years later the then recently 

 perfected telegraph system was used to transmit meteorological data. 

 Most of the observers were unpaid amateurs, a precedent for the estab- 

 lishment of the Moonwatch program. 



Also, the Smithsonian had a paternal interest in the development 

 of rocketry in this country, for it had sponsored the work of Robert 

 Goddard, had helped provide financial support for his early experi- 

 ments, and in 1919 had published his now famous pamphlet, "A 

 Method for Reaching Extreme Altitudes." Alone of all Government 

 agencies, it had glimpsed the significance and feasibility of Goddard's 

 proposal that rockets could be used to explore the upper atmosphere. 

 The U.S. satellite program of the IGY was a logical and inevitable 

 result of the experiments of Robert Goddard. 



In 1954, virtually on the eve of the IGY program, the retirement of 

 L. B. Aldrich, Director of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observa- 



^ Quoted by Paul H. Oehser in "Sons of Science," p. 28, Henry Scliuman, 1949. 



