Irving Langmuir

Irving Langmuir was an American <a href="/facts/Chemist/N09K7Bdm">chemist</a>, <a href="/facts/Physicist/cQcgvSIm">physicist</a>, and <a href="/facts/Metallurgical_engineer/1SANyxX4">metallurgical engineer</a>. He was awarded the <a href="/facts/Nobel_Prize_in_Chemistry/8Nb8Ajjy">Nobel Prize in Chemistry</a> in 1932 for his work in <a href="/facts/Surface_chemistry/WTENdutJ">surface chemistry</a>.
Langmuir's most famous publication is the 1919 article "The Arrangement of Electrons in Atoms and Molecules" in which, building on <a href="/facts/Gilbert_N._Lewis/wWnV6QXL">Gilbert N. Lewis</a>'s <a href="/facts/Cubical_atom/ajNtecop">cubical atom</a> theory and <a href="/facts/Walther_Kossel/kfmkh0p8">Walther Kossel</a>'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 <a href="/facts/General_Electric/bBm5CzVY">General Electric</a> from 1909 to 1950, Langmuir advanced several fields of <a href="/facts/Physics/a7aH2y08">physics</a> and <a href="/facts/Chemistry/SrNqkGVm">chemistry</a>, inventing the gas-filled <a href="/facts/Incandescent_lamp/31frjg0A">incandescent lamp</a> and the <a href="/facts/Atomic_hydrogen_welding/j8pwewzy">hydrogen welding technique</a>. The <a href="/facts/Langmuir_Laboratory_for_Atmospheric_Research/n2reBqdI">Langmuir Laboratory for Atmospheric Research</a> near <a href="/facts/Socorro%2c_New_Mexico/aVYuLNSr">Socorro, New Mexico</a>, was named in his honor, as was the <a href="/facts/American_Chemical_Society/Alf3uhaF">American Chemical Society</a> journal for <a href="/facts/Surface_science/WTENdutJ">surface science</a> called <a href="/facts/Langmuir_(journal)/nBDy0029">Langmuir</a>.

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Irving Langmuir