Gilbert Newton Lewis: biography and contributions of this American physicochemist

Gilbert Newton Lewis, an American national, was one of the most influential physical chemists of the 20th century. This scientist developed most of his career as a professor and researcher at the University of California (Berkeley), him having to take a break for a few years after being drafted to help the US Army during WWI World.

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

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

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Brief 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 at the family home and it was not until Newton Lewis turned 10 that he started going to 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 the University of Nebraska High School., thanks to his good academic performance.

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

In 1898, Lewis returned to Harvard University to study for a graduate degree that led to a master's degree. He completed his postgraduate degree presenting a thesis entitled "The electron and a molecule." The following year he obtained his doctorate at the same university with his thesis entitled "Some electrochemical and thermochemical reactions of zinc and cadmium amalgams".

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After graduating from Harvard: training in Germany

After receiving his doctorate from Harvard University, Lewis held a position at the same university for a year. One year later, he managed to obtain a scholarship that allowed him to travel to Europe to continue his learning from the hand of important European physicists and chemists, beginning with his trip to Germany in 1889 to learn from Wilhelm Ostwald Leipzig and also at the University of Göttingen (Germany).

Following his trip to Europe, Lewis was offered a job for the government of the Philippine Islands, where he had been working for a time. During that stage he dedicated part of his work to conducting research on the decomposition of silver oxide, he came to publish an article on said research, which was titled "Hydration in solution" (Hydration in solution).

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Return to the united states

In 1899, Lewis was called up to the chair of chemistry at Harvard University, where he would serve until 1906.

The year after leaving his job as a professor and researcher for Harvard University, Lewis was offered the possibility of working at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a job that he accepted and held until 1912, the year in which He married Mary Hinckley Sheldon, with whom he had 3 children: Margery, Edward and Richard Lewis.

During this period, Lewis published a series of articles that were transcendent in his field: "Schemes of a new system of thermodynamic chemistry" and "The chemical free energy ”, which became the nucleus of a series of later articles on experimental determinations of energies free.

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

Furthermore, during that 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 work in the scientific field, both at a theoretical and experimental level, which he continued throughout his entire career. The work of the physicochemicals of this time allowed to lay the foundations of numerous research fields that are widely recognized today. by chemists and physicists around the world.

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Trajectory at the University of California

After completing his 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 having worked as a professor at this institution for a period, Lewis he became the dean of the Faculty of Chemistry and also of the Department of Chemistry of the same university, an institution that was in full expansion at that time and part of the credit was for the great work carried out by Lewis, as well as it was the result of the leadership from the institution's president, Benjamin Ide Wheeler, thus 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 an innovative facility to carry out his duties as a researcher, of which he made the most of. The first thing he did when he was appointed Dean was a departmental rejuvenation, recruiting young people researchers who, under Lewis's leadership, jointly achieved fruitful work researcher. Another of the innovations that Lewis made was to remove hierarchical positions within his department, so that they were all professors within the same rank, as well as researchers.

Since there was no hierarchy, Lewis allowed freedom of expression within the faculty that allowed for diversity of opinions, which results in a debate in which each and every one of the members, including the students, could argue their conclusions about any topic that came up.

It is said that in college they became like the classical Athenians, so they were continually debating and sharing ideas that got away with them. coming to the fore in relation to the issues that were being discussed, under the motto that the entire department as a whole was more than the sum of its members so individual.

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In the U.S. Army during World War I

In 1914, despite the outbreak of World War I, Lewis continued his work, and in 1917, He was drafted to help in the United States Army, eventually obtaining the command post in the Defense Division in the Chemical Warfare Service., carrying out extensive work, thanks to which the army of his country was able to considerably reduce the number of losses compared to the years prior to their incorporation due to the use of gas by the armies of the side enemy.

Lewis helped the US military to achieve great efficiency in protecting its soldiers against that gas with which the countries of the enemy side fought.

Continuing with the investigations in Physics and Chemistry

After the war ended, Lewis he was decorated for the aid given to the army of his country with the highest honors. Back in California, he began working as an assistant to Merle Randall in her research on the treatise on thermodynamics.

In 1923, both published his great work, entitled "Thermodynamics and the free energy of chemicals", which represented all the work he had been researching since 1899.

Last years and death

In 1926, he was recognized for having coined the term "photon" to refer to the smallest unit of radiant energy and, seven years later, he was the first chemist to produce a pure sample of deuterium oxide (heavy water). He also managed to examine several of the properties of nucleons from the acceleration of neutrons in Ernest Lawrence's cyclotron.

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

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Most relevant contributions of Gilbert Newton Lewis to science

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

1. Lewis structure or point diagrams

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

This scientist he devised the hypothesis that atoms were able to hold together by comparing pairs of electrons. Based on this he developed the symbolism of the structures.

The bond theory that was developed based on that of Lewis, helped to bring together all kinds of chemical bonds in the same concept.

2. Covalent bond

The covalent bond, conceptualized by Lewin, is the constitution of two atoms united in such a way that a stable octet is formed, at the same time that they share the electrons of the last level, with the exception of hydrogen, which is capable of achieving stability by having two electrons.

3. Photon

As discussed earlier, Lewin coined the concept of photon to name the tiniest unit of light energy, which is capable of transmitting all possible forms of electromagnetic radiation, such as x-rays, gamma rays, infrared, microwaves, ultraviolet rays, etc.