22 Facts About Irving Langmuir

Irving Langmuir was an American chemist, physicist, and metallurgical engineer.

Irving Langmuir was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1932 for his work in surface chemistry.

Irving Langmuir was born in Brooklyn, New York, on January 31,1881.

Irving Langmuir was the third of the four children of Charles Langmuir and Sadie, Comings.

When Irving Langmuir was eleven, it was discovered that he had poor eyesight.

Arthur was a research chemist who encouraged Irving Langmuir to be curious about nature and how things work.

Arthur helped Irving Langmuir set up his first chemistry lab in the corner of his bedroom, and he was content to answer the myriad questions that Irving Langmuir would pose.

Irving Langmuir's hobbies included mountaineering, skiing, piloting his own plane, and classical music.

Irving Langmuir attended several schools and institutes in America and Paris before graduating high school from Chestnut Hill Academy, an elite private school located in the affluent Chestnut Hill area in Philadelphia.

Irving Langmuir then taught at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey, until 1909, when he began working at the General Electric research laboratory.

Irving Langmuir discovered that twisting the filament into a tight coil improved its efficiency.

Irving Langmuir was one of the first scientists to work with plasmas, and he was the first to call these ionized gases by that name because they reminded him of blood plasma.

Irving Langmuir introduced the concept of electron temperature and in 1924 invented the diagnostic method for measuring both temperature and density with an electrostatic probe, now called a Langmuir probe and commonly used in plasma physics.

Irving Langmuir discovered atomic hydrogen, which he put to use by inventing the atomic hydrogen welding process; the first plasma weld ever made.

Irving Langmuir theorized that oils consisting of an aliphatic chain with a hydrophilic end group were oriented as a film one molecule thick upon the surface of water, with the hydrophilic group down in the water and the hydrophobic chains clumped together on the surface.

Irving Langmuir was president of the Institute of Radio Engineers in 1923.

Irving Langmuir joined Katharine B Blodgett to study thin films and surface adsorption.

Irving Langmuir estimated the fly's speed at 25 miles per hour.

In 1953 Irving Langmuir coined the term "pathological science", describing research conducted with accordance to the scientific method, but tainted by unconscious bias or subjective effects.

Irving Langmuir was married to Marion Mersereau in 1912 with whom he adopted two children: Kenneth and Barbara.

Irving Langmuir's obituary ran on the front page of The New York Times.

Irving Langmuir had worked with Vonnegut's brother, Bernard Vonnegut at General Electric on seeding ice crystals to diminish or increase rain or storms.