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Langmuir, Irving
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Born in Brooklyn, New York, Irving Langmuir, like many American scientists of his day, went to Europe to obtain a scientific education, receiving a Ph.D. from the University of Gottingen in 1906. Most of Langmuir's career was spent at the General Electric research laboratory in Schenectady, New York. While at General Electric, he developed a better light bulb---one filled with nitrogen, rather than a partial vacuum. He also invented the hydrogen welding torch and mercury vacuum pump, and he studied surface phenomena, initially by studying the tungsten filament in light bulbs. In 1932 Langmuir received the Nobel Prize for his discoveries in surface chemistry.
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