Irving Langmuir was a renowned chemist, physicist, and industrial researcher who worked at the General Electric Company for more than forty years. In addition to developing important improvements to the light bulb and other devices, he made significant contributions to the understanding of chemical forces and reactions that occur at the boundaries between different substances. For his work in this field of research, known as surface chemistry, Langmuir received the 1932 Nobel Prize for chemistry. He was only the second American--and the first scientist employed as an industrial researcher--to attain such an honor.

Langmuir, the third of four sons, was born on January 31, 1881, in Brooklyn, New York, to Charles Langmuir, an insurance executive of Scottish descent, and Sadie Comings Langmuir, the daughter of an anatomy professor and a descendant, on her mother's side of the family, of settlers who came to America on the Mayflower. Langmuir received part of...