From the November 19, 1932, issue
By Science News
NOBEL PRIZE IN CHEMISTRY IS AWARDED DR. LANGMUIR
The award of the 1932 Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Dr. Irving Langmuir, the General Electric Research Laboratory chemist, adds laurels to a system of investigation of nature’s secrets as it recognizes a great scientist.
Langmuir has never been a mere inventor or applier of knowledge to pressing technical problems. He is a searcher after scientific truth. His fruitful technical developments, such as the gas-filled lamp, the “tron” tribe of vacuum tubes, and atomic hydrogen welding have been byproducts of his “pure science” experiments. He aimed at understanding the stuff that matter is made of. One practical result alone, gas-filled incandescent lamps, is estimated to save American a million dollars a night on its light bill of over a billion dollars a year.