Katharine Burr Blodgett

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Katharine Burr Blodgett bigraphy, stories - Physicists

Katharine Burr Blodgett : biography

January 10, 1898 – October 12, 1979

Katharine Burr Blodgett (January 10, 1898 – October 12, 1979) was the first woman to be awarded a Ph.D. in Physics from University of Cambridge in 1926. After receiving her master’s degree, she was hired by General Electric, where she invented low-reflectance "invisible" glass.

Birth and childhood

Katharine Burr Blodgett was born on January 10, 1898 in Schenectady, New York. She was the second child of Katharine Burr and George Blodgett. Her father was a patent attorney at General Electric where he headed that department. He was shot and killed in his home by a burglar just before she was born. GE offered a $5,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of the killer. The suspected killer hanged himself in his jail cell in Salem, New York. Her mother was financially secure after her husband’s death. She moved to New York City after Katharine’s birth with her son George Jr., two at the time. In 1901 the family moved to France.

Notes

Category:1898 births Category:1979 deaths Category:American physicists Category:Bryn Mawr College alumni Category:Alumni of the University of Cambridge Category:University of Chicago alumni Category:Recipients of the Garvan–Olin Medal Category:American women in World War I Category:Women physicists Category:Women in technology

Awards

Blodgett received numerous awards during her lifetime. In 1951 she was chosen by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as one of the 15 "women of achievement” Among many other awards she had received, the mayor of Schenectady honored her with Katharine Blodgett Day on June 13, 1951 because of all the honor she had brought to her community. In 2008 an elementary school in Schenectady was opened bearing her name.

Patents

  • issued Nov 5, 1940-"Film Structure and Method of Preparation"
  • issued Nov 5, 1940-"Reduction of Surface Reflection"
  • issued Nov 5, 1940-"Low-Reflectance Glass"
  • issued Jan 10, 1950-"Electrical Indicator of Mechanical Expansion" (with Vincent J. Schaefer)
  • issued Feb 26, 1952-"Step Gauge for Measuring Thickness of Thin Films"
  • issued Mar 18, 1952-"Electrical Indicator of Mechanical Expansion" (with Vincent J. Schaefer)
  • issued May 20, 1952-"Electrically Conducting Layer"
  • issued Apr 28, 1953-"Method of Forming Semiconducting Layers on Glass and Article Formed Thereby"

Social life and hobbies

Blodgett bought a home in Schenectady overlooking her birthplace where she spent most of her adult life. She was an actress in her town’s little theater group and volunteered for civic and charitable organizations. Blodgett was the treasurer of the Traveler’s Aid Society there. She spent summers at a camp at Lake George in upstate New York, to pursue her love of gardening. Blodgett was also an avid amateur astronomer. She collected antiques, played bridge with friends and wrote funny poems in her spare time. She died in her home on October 12, 1979.

Education

In 1912 Blodgett returned to New York City with her family where she was enrolled in the Rayson School. This private school gave her the same quality of education that the boys her age were receiving. From an early age she had shown a talent for mathematics. Blodgett subsequently won a scholarship to Bryn Mawr College, where she excelled at mathematics and physics. She received her B.A. degree from Bryn Mawr in 1917.

Blodgett decided to pursue scientific research and visited the Schenectady GE plant during Christmas break of her senior year. Her father’s former colleagues introduced her to research chemist Irving Langmuir. After a tour of his laboratory, Langmuir told the eighteen-year-old Blodgett that she needed to broaden her scientific education before coming to work for him.

Following his advice, Blodgett enrolled at the University of Chicago in 1918 to pursue a master’s degree. Since a job awaited her in industrial research, she picked a related subject for her thesis: the chemical structure of gas masks. World War I was raging and gas masks were needed to protect troops against poison gases. Blodgett determined that almost all poisonous gases can be adsorbed by carbon molecules. She published a paper on gas mask materials in the scientific journal Physical Review at the age of 21."Studies of the Adsorption of Gases by Charcoal. II," in Physical Review, Vol 14, Nov 1919, pp 394–402 (with Harvey B. Lemon)