Katharine Burr Blodgett American inventor and physicist Date of Birth: 10.01.1898 Country: USA

Biography of Katharine Burr Blodgett

Katharine Burr Blodgett was born on January 10, 1898, in Schenectady, New York. She was the second child in her family, and her father was a patent attorney at General Electric (GE), where he headed the patent department. Unfortunately, he was killed by a robber in their home before Katharine was born. GE offered a reward of $5,000 for the capture of the murderer, who was found hanging in a jail cell in Salem, NY.

In 1901, Katharine, her brother George Jr., and their mother moved to France. However, in 1912, Blodgett returned to New York and attended a private school, which allowed her to receive an excellent education that many girls were deprived of at the time. She displayed mathematical talents from a young age and was awarded a scholarship to Bryn Mawr College, where she excelled in mathematics and physics. In 1917, she obtained a bachelor's degree from the college.

Deciding to continue her scientific research, Blodgett visited one of GE's plants during the Christmas holidays in 1918. There, former colleagues of her father introduced her to chemist Irving Langmuir. After touring his laboratory, Langmuir advised the 18-year-old Blodgett to continue expanding her knowledge in order to work with him. Following his advice, she enrolled at the University of Chicago in 1918 and chose the topic of "gas masks" for her dissertation. At that time, World War I was raging, and the military was in great need of protection against poisonous gases. Blodgett discovered that almost all toxic gases could be absorbed by carbon molecules. At the age of 21, she published scientific papers on gas masks in the journal "Physical Review."

In 1924, Blodgett was included in the doctoral program in physics. She wrote her dissertation on the behavior of electrons in ionized mercury vapors. She finally received her Ph.D. in 1926. Immediately after becoming a master's degree holder, she was hired by GE as a scientific researcher. Attached to Langmuir, Blodgett worked with him on the development of monomolecular films for coating water, metal, or glass surfaces. These special films were oily and could be stored in layers only a few nanometers thick. In 1935, Blodgett developed a method for spreading monomolecular films one layer at a time. She used modified barium stearate to coat glass with 44 monomolecular layers, which increased its transparency by over 99%. This led to the creation of "invisible glass," now called the Langmuir-Blodgett film.

Throughout her career, Blodgett obtained eight U.S. patents and published more than 30 scientific articles in various journals. She invented the method of adsorption purification of toxic gases, an anti-icing system for aircraft wings, and improved the use of smoke screens in military camouflage. Blodgett never married but lived happily in a "Boston marriage" (lesbian relationship) with Gertrude Brown, a member of an old Schenectady family, for many years. After Brown, she lived with Elsie Errington, the headmistress of a girls' school. Katharine had a passion for theater, acting in plays herself, and enjoyed gardening and astronomy. She collected antiques, played bridge with friends, and wrote amusing poems. Blodgett passed away in her home on October 12, 1979.