Irving Langmuir

• Born: January 31, 1881
• Birthplace: Brooklyn, New York
• Died: August 16, 1957
• Place of death: Falmouth, Massachusetts

American physical chemist

Langmuir’s exploration of surface phenomena and thin films led to important practical applications and a Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He is best known for his contributions to the development of the commercially successful incandescent bulb.

Primary fields: Chemistry; physics

Primary invention: Gas-filled incandescent light bulb

Early Life

Irving Langmuir (LAYNG-myoor) was the third of four boys born to Charles and Sadie (née Comings) Langmuir. His early education included schools in both New York and Paris. In 1899, he entered the Columbia University School of Mines for its rigorous curriculum in chemistry, physics, and mathematics. He graduated with a degree in metallurgical engineering in 1903.

Like many aspiring chemists at the beginning of the twentieth century, Langmuir went to Germany for graduate study. At the University of Göttingen, he studied with Walther Nernst, winner of the 1920 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. At first, it appeared that Nernst and Langmuir would not be a good fit as a doctoral research team. Langmuir complained that Nernst spent all his time on his own research and ignored him. There is evidence that Nernst did not see much potential in the American. Nernst was deeply involved in the study of thermodynamics at that time. His work in this field, which combines physics and chemistry through the elegant application of mathematics, contributed to the development of the third law of thermodynamics. These studies dealing with matter at absolute zero were of practical importance for the field of cryogenics.

For a research project, Langmuir was assigned the rather mundane task of studying the chemical reactions of gases near a glowing platinum wire. Despite this unpromising situation, he was able to obtain excellent results. He used this research in his thesis to investigate the chemistry of gases and the transfer of heat from hot surfaces such as platinum wire.

Life’s Work

Langmuir struggled trying to decide between a career in research at a university and a career as a chemist in industry. Perhaps by fate, his older brother Herbert wrote him a letter in which he detailed thoughts about this very question. Herbert advised a scholarly, scientific career but only if Irving was satisfied that he had the ability to make a great success of it. Irving believed in himself and knew his future direction.

After earning his Ph.D. in 1906, Langmuir began teaching chemistry at the new Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey. He was often praised for his teaching skills and his interest in the progress of young scientists, but he found the institute to be unbearable. He felt that his students had little interest in learning, his colleagues were lazy, and there was little opportunity for research. After three years, he resigned.

In the summer of 1909, he began working for the General Electric (GE) Research Laboratory in Schenectady, New York, where he would work for the rest of his life. The lab director, Willis R. Whitney, was recently recruited from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and had heard Langmuir at the conference that had brought him to Schenectady. The two men were assigned to work together, and GE’s lab was an ideal place. Langmuir was at once taken by the latitude given to the scientists there and the easy rapport they enjoyed with one another.

Whitney had the task of building a great laboratory. He surrounded himself with the best men and allowed them to study whatever they wished without regard to practical outcome. This independence, he believed, would lead to useful product development, and the laboratory setting allowed him to assess new scientists.

Langmuir was drawn to research on gases in close proximity to a heated wire, work that resonated with his doctoral thesis. At that time, his new colleague, William David Coolidge, was working on a tungsten-filament lamp. It seemed logical that tungsten, which could withstand very high temperatures, would be superior to the carbon or tantalum then in use. The problem was that tungsten’s brittle nature made it difficult to form into wires. Langmuir was fascinated by the problem and by GE’s advanced equipment. He investigated what would happen if the gas in the light bulb was removed, and he discovered that the glowing tungsten wire produced a huge amount of gas inside the bulb. The tungsten-filament bulb blackened over time and the filament was short-lived. He soon discovered that a mixture of argon and nitrogen gases, along with a coiled filament, improved the light bulb’s efficiency.

In 1912, Langmuir married Marion Mersereau, and they had two children, Kenneth and Barbara. Langmuir next turned his attention to surface chemistry. As early as 1916, he published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society an article concerning the fundamental properties of solids and liquids. A second part appeared in the same journal the next year, and a variety of reports appeared prior to his receiving the Nobel Prize in 1932. In presenting the new Nobel laureate to the audience in Stockholm, the chairman of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry described how Langmuir had radically changed the prevailing view of forces in thin films. Langmuir showed that films that were only one molecule thick behaved much like a two-dimensional gas. This daring point of view opened a new field of exploration.

Besides the Nobel Prize, Langmuir was awarded fifteen honorary degrees. Both the Royal Society of London and the American Chemical Society recognized his accomplishments with their most prestigious medals. Langmuir died of a heart attack in Falmouth, Massachusetts, in 1957.

Impact

Few scientists have contributed as much to pure research or have made as many practical contributions as Langmuir. He demonstrated an uncanny knack for seeing deeply into nature and understanding how his knowledge could influence real-world needs. Along with Willis R. Whitney, he appreciated both the importance and the joy of fundamental research. His research on the behavior of filaments led to the development of gas-filled incandescent bulbs that were significantly more efficient than other light bulbs, and his work in surface chemistry led to his revolutionary discovery that gases would adsorb onto the surface of a liquid or solid in a layer only one atom or molecule thick.

Bibliography

Blodgett, Katharine B. “Irving Langmuir.” Journal of Chemical Education 10, no. 7 (July, 1933): 396-399. A personal account written by Langmuir’s longtime collaborator. Full of quotations and excellent photographs.

Gratzer, Walter. “Aberration of Physics: Irving Langmuir Investigates.” In The Undergrowth of Science. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. A book dedicated to exposing the misuse of science by scientists. The author presents Langmuir’s central role in exposing the self-deception of two physicists who were certain that they had shown that helium nuclei captured electrons while passing through a gas.

Jacoby, Mitch. “Just Surface Deep, but not Shallow.” Chemical and Engineering News 81, no. 39 (September, 2003): 37. In celebrating the 125th year of the Journal of the American Chemical Society, brief articles describe the most often cited articles published in this distinguished journal. A photograph of Langmuir is accompanied by an excellent description of his work and its importance. His professional relationship with Katharine Burr Blodgett is described.

Jensen, William B. “The Origin of the Eighteen-Electron Rule.” Journal of Chemical Education 82, no. 1 (2005): 28. Describes Langmuir’s contribution to the understanding of bonding in chemical compounds.

Rosenfeld, Albert. The Quintessence of Irving Langmuir. New York: Pergamon Press, 1966. A reprint of volume 12 of Langmuir’s Collected Works (1961). Includes an intimate look at his life, including many comments from his family and associates. The science is described in detail, but at a level that can be understood by any intelligent reader. Contains detailed lists of his awards and publications. Extensive bibliography.

Suits, C. Guy, and Miles J. Martin. “Irving Langmuir: January 31, 1881-August 16, 1957.” Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences 45, no. 8 (1974): 215-247. An important source on Langmuir’s scientific life and career. Contains an extensive bibliography of his publications along with a list of his honors.