Langmuir, Irving (lăng`my

r), 1881–1957, American chemist, b. Brooklyn, N.Y. Associated (1909–50) with the research laboratory of the General Electric Company, he introduced atomic-hydrogen welding, invented a gas-filled tungsten lamp, and by his work on the high vacuum contributed greatly to the development of the radio vacuum tube. He extended the work of Gilbert Lewis on electron bonding, evolving the Lewis-Langmuir theory of atomic structure. In his research on surface tension and surface chemistry he developed a new technique (employing monolayers, i.e., layers of molecules one molecule thick) for the study of molecules, which has applications in research on microorganisms and toxins and in other studies contributing to advances in immunology. For his contributions in surface chemistry he received the 1932 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. It was Langmuir who discovered that the introduction of particles of dry ice and iodide into a cloud of low temperature containing sufficient moisture in tiny droplets triggered a chain reaction producing rain or snow, depending on the condition of the weather.

Bibliography

See his works, ed. by C. G. Suits and H. E. Way (12 vol., 1960–62); study by A. Rosenfeld (1966).

Langmuir, Irving

(born Jan. 31, 1881, Brooklyn, N.Y., N.Y., U.S.—died Aug. 16, 1957, Falmouth, Mass.) U.S. physical chemist. He received a Ph.D. from the University of Göttingen, Ger. As a researcher for General Electric (1909–50), he investigated electrical discharges in gases, electron emission, and the high-temperature surface chemistry of tungsten, making possible a great extension in the life of tungsten-filament lightbulbs. He developed a vacuum pump and the high-vacuum tubes used in radio broadcasting. He formulated theories of atomic structure and chemical bond formation, introducing the term covalence. He received a Nobel Prize in 1932.

Langmuir, Irving (1881–1957) chemist; born in Brooklyn, N.Y. After teaching chemistry at the Stevens Institute of Technology (1906–09), he began work at the General Electric laboratory under Willis Whitney (1909). Langmuir's first major contribution was to show that a nitrogen-filled light bulb burned more brightly than a vacuum bulb. He went on to the study of vacuums, inventing the mercury pump (1916), which enabled the creation of very low pressures needed to produce vacuum tubes. At that time, he also began investigating molecular activity occurring in film surfaces that were just one molecule thick. In addition to his various laboratory discoveries, he made theoretical contributions with his explanation of the phenomenon of adsorption; he also developed concepts fundamental to the field of thermonuclear fusion and coined the term plasma to describe ionized gas. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry (1932) for his work in surface chemistry. That same year he was named associate director of the General Electric labs, where he remained until his retirement (1950). During World War II he worked for the U.S. military on problems of ice formation on aircraft wings; this led to his 1946 discovery of a method to produce rain by seeding clouds with dry ice and silver iodide.