Magazine content is available exclusively for TIME subscribers.Science: New Inventions
> For some years Dr. Irving Langmuir of General Electric Co. has investigated the properties of monomolecular layers— that is, oil films, one molecule thick. He finds that in such layers molecules all stand on end, lined up in the same direction; that layers any number of molecules thick could be built up on a pane of glass by repeatedly dipping it in water covered with a monomolecular film. All this, however, came under the head of "pure-science" research.
Pure science gave way to practical technology when one of Dr. Langmuir's coworkers, Dr. Katharine...
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