Katherine Burr Blodgett (1898–1979)

Katherine Blodgett is best remembered as one of the inventors of Langmuir-Blodgett film, an important contribution to nanotechnology. But Blodgett was also a pioneer for women in the field of science. After obtaining a B.A. at Bryn Mawr College and an M.S. at the University of Chicago, Blodgett became, in 1926, the first woman to receive a doctoral degree in physics from Cambridge University and thus paved the way for many female scientists.

When she had completed her studies at Cambridge, Blodgett returned to her hometown of Schenectady, New York, to work as Irving Langmuir’s assistant at the General Electric Research Laboratory. Together Blodgett and Langmuir invented Langmuir-Blodgett film, which was crucial for the development of “invisible” glass. Using barium stereate, a type of soap, Blodgett developed a technique that placed 44 layers of a monomolecular coating (each layer one molecule thick) on top of glass surfaces. At that specific depth the reflection of the soap film neutralized the reflection of the glass, as the troughs and crests of the waves were opposite of each other and thus cancelled each other out. This wave cancellation increased glass nonreflectivity from between 90 and 92% to more than 99%. Further development yielded hard-coating films that adhered permanently on the glass surface. Today virtually all lenses have nonreflective coatings to permit efficient passage of light.

Blodgett received numerous awards throughout her career, including the American Association of University Women’s Annual Achievement Award; the Francis Garvin Medal from the American Chemical Society for her work on monomolecular films; and recognition at Boston’s first Assembly of American Women in Achievement, in 1951, during which she was the only scientist honored.