Writing Resources
On January 10 1898 in Schenectady New York Katharine Burr Blodgett was born to a loving mother and older brother Her father had died only weeks before her birth he worked as patent lawyer for the General Electric Company Her family moved to France in 1901 Katharine fell in love with mathematics at her schools In 1912 her family moved to New York City and sent Katharine to a boarding school called Rayson School for Young Women She graduated high school at age 15 and received a scholarship to attend Bryn Mawr College which at the time was known as a women's Ivy League college This college is where she first became interested in physics She received her Bachelor of Arts for sciences degree at age 19 She then attended the University of Chicago to obtain her master s degree After college she travelled around trying to find work She went to upstate New York to where she was born Schenectady While she was here she visited her father s old place of work The General Electric Company She went on a tour there and her dads old colleagues introduced her to Irving Langmuir a chemist and physics researcher at the company He recognized her intelligence and invited her to study with him at the company She studied under him for nearly six years when he proposed to her that she should go back to school and get her doctorate in science Katharine agreed and went to study physics and chemistry at Cambridge University She graduated from the university in 1926 and was the first woman to ever be awarded a doctorate in physics from Cambridge
