Layers of Brilliance: The 'House of Magic' -- Episode Two

Katharine Burr Blodgett arrives at The General Electric Company’s legendary research laboratory in Schenectady, New York, known as the “House of Magic.” She was just 20 years old when she entered a world built almost entirely for men. She joins as assistant to the brilliant and eccentric Irving Langmuir, a star chemist whose fundamental work in materials science and light bulbs would bring fame to him, and fortune to GE. The General Electric Company was an obvious choice for a brilliant young scientist. But was it the promise of scientific discoveries that drew Katharine to Schenectady or the need to confront the personal tragedy that marked the place where her own story began? Perhaps it was both. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

You can listen to Layers of Brilliance: The 'House of Magic' -- Episode Two online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Layers of Brilliance: The 'House of Magic' -- Episode Two is an episode from Lost Women of Science by Lost Women of Science.

This episode is 41:07 long.

This episode was published on Feb 5, 2026.

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