Woman Scientist Invented Invisible Glass in 1938

A woman working alongside a Nobel Prize winner just made herself impossible to ignore.

In 1938, scientist Katharine Burr Blodgett achieved what seemed impossible: she invented glass that doesn't reflect light. Working at General Electric's research lab in Schenectady, New York, Blodgett spent years perfecting thin film coatings on solid surfaces, creating what the press quickly dubbed "invisible glass."

The breakthrough came after years of meticulous work with molecular monolayers, impossibly thin layers of molecules just one atom thick. While her boss Irving Langmuir had won the 1932 Nobel Prize for pioneering this field, Blodgett took the research further, discovering how to stack these microscopic layers with extraordinary precision.

Her nonreflecting glass wasn't just a laboratory curiosity. The invention revolutionized optics, improving everything from camera lenses to eyeglasses to submarine periscopes. For the first time, photographers could capture images without glare, and scientists could see through microscopes with unprecedented clarity.

Blodgett's journey to this moment was remarkable in itself. She was the first woman to earn a physics PhD from Cambridge University and the first female scientist hired by General Electric. In an era when women rarely entered scientific labs, she ran most of the experiments that built the foundation for Langmuir's Nobel Prize winning work.

Why This Inspires

Blodgett's story shows what happens when talent meets opportunity, even against steep odds. She didn't just assist groundbreaking research; she pushed it forward into territory no one had explored. Her invisible glass proved that the most transformative discoveries often come from those willing to look at familiar problems from entirely new angles.

The assistant who had long worked in the background suddenly became the star, and General Electric's publicity machine knew they had something special. Scientific journals and mainstream newspapers alike celebrated her achievement, recognizing not just the invention but the inventor herself.

Today, nonreflecting coatings based on Blodgett's work touch billions of lives daily, from smartphone screens to solar panels, a lasting testament to one woman's refusal to remain invisible.