The clean Ir (100) surface was obtained by heating in ultra-high vacuum and shows no atomic rearrangement. However after argon ion-bombardment and mild annealing an Ir (100) 5×1 structure was obtained. On further annealing the diffraction pattern reverted to the unreconstructed arrangement. Auger electron spectroscopy measurements indicate that the 5×1 structure might be due to oxygen. Reactions of the Ir (100) surface with CO, CO2 and O2 are also reported. © 1969.