The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) is a research bureau of the Smithsonian Institution, which was created by Congress in 1846 to carry out a bequest of Englishman James Smithson. It was not until 1890 that SAO was founded by Samuel Pierpont Langley, the Institution's third Secretary, primarily for studies of the Sun. In 1955, SAO moved from Washington, D.C., to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to affiliate with the Harvard College Observatory and to expand its staff, facilities, and, most important, its scientific scope. As an independent trust establishment of the United States government, the Institution today conducts scientific and scholarly research, administers national collections, and provides public service, education, and outreach programs supported by Congressional appropriations, trust endowments and revenues, and private contracts, grants, and gifts.