Katharine Burr Blodgett's brilliant career began at the House of Magic'

"In 1918 Katharine Burr Blodgett arrived at the General Electric Company's legendary research laboratory in Schenectady, N.Y., a facility known as the House of Magic. She was just 20 years old when she entered a world built almost entirely for men. She joined the lab as an 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."

"Maryanne Malecki: That particular house on Front Street, there was something about it that people didn't want anybody to know the story. So I, of course, looked it up. Ginger Strand: Schenectady must have been so fraught in a way for her. Bill Buell: It's strange that Katharine came back. I mean, she had no memory of her father. She must have felt a connection, 'cause she came back to work for GE."

In 1918 Katharine Burr Blodgett arrived at General Electric's Schenectady research laboratory, the House of Magic, as a 20-year-old entering a male-dominated scientific world. She became an assistant to chemist Irving Langmuir, whose materials and light‑bulb research shaped the lab's reputation. GE represented both a prime scientific opportunity and a place tied to Blodgett's personal history. Voices in the transcript note a mysterious house on Front Street and suggest Blodgett returned to Schenectady seeking connections after family loss. Blodgett was determined to join the research team, and Langmuir emerged as a mentor who supported her scientific ambitions.

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