Gilbert Newton Lewis: biography and contributions of this American physicochemist

In this biography of Gilbert N. Lewis we review the findings of this American scientist.

Gilbert Newton Lewis, an American national, was one of the most influential physicochemists of the 20th century. This scientist spent most of his career as a professor and researcher at the University of California (Berkeley), having to take a break for a few years when he was recruited to help the U.S. Army during World War I. He was a member of the U.S. Army during World War II.

Among his many contributions to science are the Lewis structure or dot diagrams, the concept of covalent bond, coining the term photon, his definition of acid and base.

In this biography of Gilbert Newton Lewis we will review the life of this scientist.and will highlight many of his contributions to the field of physics and chemistry.

Short biography of Gilbert Newton Lewis

Gilbert Newton Lewis was born on October 23, 1875 in the American city of Weymouth (Massachusetts). His parents were named Mary Burr White Lewis and Frank Wesley Lewis, who were in charge of teaching in the family home, and it was not until Newton Lewis was 10 years old that he began to attend a public school.

Academic training

In 1884 Newton Lewis, along with his family, had to move to Lincoln, Nebraska, and at the age of 13, he was admitted to a public school. at the age of 13 he was admitted to the high school of the University of Nebraska, thanks to his good academic performance.thanks to his good academic performance.

After high school, Lewis considered the possibility of studying economics; however, he ended up choosing to study physics and chemistry, being admitted in 1893 to the prestigious Harvard University, where he graduated three years later. After graduation he worked as a teacher in a private school called Phillps Academy, located in the town of Andover (Massachusetts).

In 1898, Lewis returned to Harvard University to pursue graduate studies for a master's degree. He completed his graduate studies with a thesis entitled "The Electron and a Molecule". The following year he achieved his doctorate at the same university with his thesis entitled "Some electrochemical and thermochemical reactions of zinc and cadmium amalgams".

After graduating from Harvard: training in Germany

After earning his doctorate at Harvard University, Lewis obtained a position at Harvard University for one year. A year later, a scholarship that allowed him to travel to Europe to continue his studies with leading European physicists and chemists, beginning with a trip to Germany in 1889 to learn from Wilhelm Ostwald Leipzig in Leipzig, Germany.He began with a trip to Germany in 1889 to learn from Wilhelm Ostwald Leipzig and also at the University of Göttingen (Germany).

After his trip to Europe, Lewis was offered a job with the government of the Philippine Islands, where he worked for some time. During that time he devoted part of his work to research on the decomposition of silver oxide and published a paper on that research, which came to be titled "Hydration in solution".

Return to the United States

In 1899, Lewis was called to the chair of chemistry at Harvard University, where he held the position until 1906.

The year after leaving his job as a professor and researcher for Harvard University, Lewis was offered a job at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a position he accepted and held until 1912, the year in which he married Mary Hinckley Sheldon, with whom he arrived in 1912. he married Mary Hinckley Sheldon, with whom he had three children: Margery, Edward and Richard Lewis.Margery, Edward and Richard Lewis.

During this period, Lewis published a series of papers that proved to be seminal in his field: "Outlines of a New System of Thermodynamic Chemistry" and "The Free Energy of Chemical Substances", which became the nucleus of a series of later papers on the experimental determinations of free energies.

In 1908, Lewis published his first research on the theory of relativity in parallel with Albert Einstein, according to sources, in which he hypothesized the link discovered between energy and mass, although in a different direction from the one used by Einstein in his research. according to sources, where he presented the hypothesis about the discovered link between energy and mass, although in a different direction than the one used by Einstein in his research.

In addition, during this period he was admitted to the select group of chemists who came to meteorically advance the field of physics and chemistry research in the United States. This period was marked by intense scientific work, both theoretical and experimental, which continued throughout his career. The work of the physicochemists of this period made it possible to lay the foundations for numerous fields of research that today are widely recognized by chemists and physicists all over the world.

Career at the University of California

After finishing his professional career at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Lewis was hired to work as a professor of chemistry at the University of California, located in the city of Berkeley.

After serving a term as a professor at this institution, Lewis became the dean of the chemistry faculty and also the dean of the chemistry department at the same university, an institution that was expanding rapidly.Lewis's work was partly to the credit of an institution that was in full expansion at the time, as well as the leadership of the institution's president, Benjamin Ide Wheeler, making the University of California one of the most distinguished universities in the United States.

In addition, at the University of California, Lewis was provided with innovative facilities to carry out his duties as a researcher, which he took full advantage of. The first thing he did when he was appointed Dean was a departmental rejuvenation, recruiting young researchers who, under Lewis' leadership, together achieved a fruitful research work. Another of Lewis' innovations was to remove the hierarchical positions within his department, so that all were professors within the same rank, as well as researchers.

Since there was no hierarchy, Lewis allowed freedom of expression within the faculty to allow for a diversity of opinions.This resulted in a debate in which each and every member, including the students, could argue their conclusions about any issue that came up.

It is said that in the faculty they became like the classical Athenians, so that they were continuously debating and sharing the ideas that were coming to their heads in relation to the topics that were being dealt with, under the motto that the whole department as a whole was more than the sum of its members individually.

In the U.S. Army during World War I

In 1914, despite the outbreak of World War I, Lewis continued his work, and in the year 1917, was recruited to help in the U.S. Army, eventually earning a command position in the Defense Division of the Chemical Warfare Service.He did extensive work, thanks to which his country's army was able to considerably reduce the number of casualties compared to the years prior to his incorporation due to the use of gas by the armies of the enemy's side.

Lewis helped the U.S. Army to achieve great efficiency in protecting its soldiers against the gas used by the enemy's armies.

Continuing research in physics and chemistry

After the end of the war, Lewis was decorated with the highest honors for his help to the U.S. Army.. Back in California, he began working as Merle Randall's assistant in his research on the treatise on thermodynamics.

In 1923, the two published their great work, entitled "Thermodynamics and the Free Energy of Chemical Substances", which represented all the work he had done in the field of thermodynamics.which represented all the work he had been researching since 1899.

Last years and death

In 1926, he was credited with coining the term "photon" to refer to the smallest unit of radiant energy and, seven years later, he was the first chemist to succeed in producing a pure sample of deuterium oxide, was the first chemist to succeed in producing a pure sample of deuterium oxide (heavy water). (heavy water). He also succeeded in examining several of the properties of nucleons from neutron acceleration in Ernest Lawrence's cyclotron.

In 1946, Lewis died of cardiac arrest while doing research in his laboratory at the University of California.

Gilbert Newton Lewis's most relevant contributions to science.

Throughout his extensive career as a researcher, Lewis achieved relevant discoveries thanks to which nominated for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, although he never won it.. Among his many contributions to science, we will highlight the following.

1. The Lewis structure or point diagrams

It is possibly the most important contribution to science of Gilbert Newton Lewis, being elaborated with the purpose of using several methods to be able to represent the structure of a molecule.

This scientist devised the hypothesis that atoms were able to hold together by matching pairs of electrons.. On this basis he developed the symbolism of structures.

The theory of bonding that was developed on the basis of Lewis' theory helped to group all kinds of chemical bonds into a single concept.

2. Covalent bond

The covalent bond, as conceptualized by Lewinis the constitution of two atoms united in such a way as to form a stable octet, while sharing the electrons of the last level, with the exception of hydrogen, which is able to achieve stability by possessing two electrons.

3. Photon

As mentioned above, Lewin coined the concept of photon to name the smallest unit of luminous energy, which is capable of transmitting all the electrons of the last level.which is capable of transmitting all possible forms of electromagnetic radiation, such as x-rays, gamma rays, infrared rays, microwaves, ultraviolet rays, etc.