Irving Langmuir
Facts
Photo from the Nobel Foundation archive.
Irving Langmuir
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1932
Born: 31 January 1881, Brooklyn, NY, USA
Died: 16 August 1957, Falmouth, MA, USA
Affiliation at the time of the award: General Electric Company, Schenectady, NY, USA
Prize motivation: “for his discoveries and investigations in surface chemistry”
Prize share: 1/1
Work
Chemical reactions often take place more easily next to surfaces where substances in different phases, such as solids and gases, come in contact. In studies of incandescent light bulbs with rarefied hydrogen gas, Irving Langmuir discovered that a layer of hydrogen atoms only one atom thick formed on the inside of the incandescent light bulb. Further studies of oil films and other materials led him in 1917 to a theory postulating that surfaces resemble a chessboard on which every square can be occupied by only one atom or molecule. As a result, atoms or molecules that wind up next to each other can more easily react with one another.
Nobel Prizes and laureates
Six prizes were awarded for achievements that have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind. The 12 laureates' work and discoveries range from proteins' structures and machine learning to fighting for a world free of nuclear weapons.
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