He graduated with a B.S. from the Columbia University School of Mines in 1903 and did postgraduate work in chemistry under Nobel laureate Walther Nernstunder in Göttingen and earned his Ph.D. degree in 1906.
Langmuir then taught at [Stevens Institute of Technology]? in Hoboken, New Jersey, until 1909, when he began working at the General Electric research laboratory (Schenectady, New York). While at G.E., from 1909-1950, Langmuir advanced several basic fields of physics and chemistry, invented the gas filled incandescent lamp, the hydrogen welding technique, and was awarded the 1932 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his work in surface chemistry.