SMRTR Science & EngineeringFeb 26, 2026Scientific American

Katharine Burr Blodgett made a breakthrough when she discovered ‘invisible glass’

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Working alongside Nobel Prize winner Irving Langmuir at General Electric in the 1930s, scientist Katharine Burr Blodgett developed a groundbreaking technique for stacking ultra-thin molecular layers on glass surfaces. Through meticulous experiments using talcum powder as a visual tracer, she discovered that precisely 44 layers of barium stearate created non-reflective glass that transmitted more light than regular glass, revolutionizing optics for eyeglasses, cameras, and telescopes.

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