Irving Langmuir Quotes

#1. This coupling together of science with international peace, is, I think, particularly significant.

Irving Langmuir

#2. The scientist is motivated primarily by curiosity and a desire for truth.

Irving Langmuir

#3. Only a small part of scientific progress has resulted from planned search for specific objectives. A much more important part has been made possible by the freedom of the individual to follow his own curiosity.

Irving Langmuir

#4. Happy indeed is the scientist who not only has the pleasures which I have enumerated, but who also wins the recognition of fellow scientists and of the mankind which ultimately benefits from his endeavors.

Irving Langmuir

#5. A chemist who does not know mathematics is seriously handicapped.

Irving Langmuir

#6. History proves abundantly that pure science, undertaken without regard to applications to human needs, is usually ultimately of direct benefit to mankind.

Irving Langmuir

#7. To my mind, the most important aspect of the Nobel Awards is that they bring home to the masses of the peoples of all nations, a realization of their common interests. They carry to those who have no direct contact with science the international spirit.

Irving Langmuir

#8. And literature frequently rises to heights that make it international.

Irving Langmuir

#9. Science, almost from its beginnings, has been truly international in character. National prejudices disappear completely in the scientist's search for truth.

Irving Langmuir