Irving LangmuirBorn 31 Jan 1881; died 16 Aug 1957 at age 76. American physical chemist whose studies of molecular films on solid and liquid surfaces opened new fields in colloid research and biochemistry and won him the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1932. His early work on gases led to the invention of the Langmuir condensation pump. In 1913, Langmuir found that the life of the tungsten vacuum bulbs then in use could be extended considerably if they were filled with a mixture of nitrogen and argon. He also developed an atomic-hydrogen welding torch capable of temperatures up to 3,000°C, and made first use of the term plasma. While studying atomic structure he introduced the terms covalence and electrovalence. In surface chemistry, he worked the phenomenon of adsorption and the application of this to catalysis. |
