Jack Steinberger
German-American physicist, Nobel laureate (1921-2020)
Irving Langmuir
American chemist and physicist
Irving Langmuirwas an American chemist, physicist, and engineer. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1932 for his work in surface chemistry.
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About the Irving Langmuir
Irving Langmuirwas an American chemist, physicist, and engineer. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1932 for his work in surface chemistry.
Langmuir’s most famous publication is the 1919 article “The Arrangement of Electrons in Atoms and Molecules” in which, building on Gilbert N. Lewis’s cubical atom theory and Walther Kossel’s chemical bonding theory, he outlined his “concentric theory of atomic structure”. Langmuir became embroiled in a priority dispute with Lewis over this work; Langmuir’s presentation skills were largely responsible for the popularization of the theory, although the credit for the theory itself belongs mostly to Lewis. While at General Electric from 1909 to 1950, Langmuir advanced several fields of physics and chemistry, inventing the gas-filled incandescent lamp and the hydrogen welding technique. The Langmuir Laboratory for Atmospheric Research near Socorro, New Mexico, was named in his honor, as was the American Chemical Society journal for surface science called Langmuir.
8 Quotes by Irving Langmuir
- 1.
This coupling together of science with international peace, is, I think, particularly significant.
Irving LangmuirAmerican chemist and physicist
- 2.
History proves abundantly that pure science, undertaken without regard to applications to human needs, is usually ultimately of direct benefit to mankind.
Irving LangmuirAmerican chemist and physicist
- 3.
Medicine also disregards national boundaries.
Irving LangmuirAmerican chemist and physicist
- 4.
To my mind, the most important aspect of the Nobel Awards is that they bring home to the masses of the peoples of all nations, a realization of their common interests. They carry to those who have no direct contact with science the international spirit.
Irving LangmuirAmerican chemist and physicist
- 5.
The scientist is motivated primarily by curiosity and a desire for truth.
Irving LangmuirAmerican chemist and physicist
- 6.
Happy indeed is the scientist who not only has the pleasures which I have enumerated, but who also wins the recognition of fellow scientists and of the mankind which ultimately benefits from his endeavors.
Irving LangmuirAmerican chemist and physicist
- 7.
And literature frequently rises to heights that make it international.
Irving LangmuirAmerican chemist and physicist
- 8.
Science, almost from its beginnings, has been truly international in character. National prejudices disappear completely in the scientist’s search for truth.
Irving LangmuirAmerican chemist and physicist