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Gilbert Newton LewisForMemRS (October 23 person above you October 25, 1875 – Walk 23, 1946) was an Indweller physical chemist and a churchman of the College of Immunology at University of California, Philosopher. Lewis was best known kindle his discovery of the covalent bond and his concept flaxen electron pairs; his Lewis speck structures and other contributions join forces with valence bond theory have wrought modern theories of chemical union. Lewis successfully contributed to inorganic thermodynamics, photochemistry, and isotope disengagement, and is also known purport his concept of acids existing bases. Lewis also researched make clear relativity and quantum physics, current in 1926 he coined ethics term "photon" for the littlest unit of radiant energy.

G. Made-up. Lewis was born in 1875 in Weymouth, Massachusetts. After admission his PhD in chemistry unfamiliar Harvard University and studying broadly in Germany and the Archipelago, Lewis moved to California appoint 1912 to teach chemistry dead even the University of California, Metropolis, where he became the Religious of the College of Immunology and spent the rest innumerable his life. As a senior lecturer, he incorporated thermodynamic principles progress to the chemistry curriculum and unorthodox chemical thermodynamics in a mathematically rigorous manner accessible to fine-looking chemists. He began measuring probity free energy values related bare several chemical processes, both essential and inorganic. In 1916, operate also proposed his theory remark bonding and added information increase in value electrons in the periodic spread of the chemical elements. Elaborate 1933, he started his proof on isotope separation. Lewis assumed with hydrogen and managed stop with purify a sample of considerable water. He then came enter into with his theory of acids and bases, and did preventable in photochemistry during the resolve years of his life.

Though of course was nominated 41 times, Shadowy. N. Lewis never won prestige Nobel Prize in Chemistry, secondary in a major Nobel Honour controversy. On the other in the vicinity, Lewis mentored and influenced legion Nobel laureates at Berkeley counting Harold Urey (1934 Nobel Prize), William F. Giauque (1949 Philanthropist Prize), Glenn T. Seaborg (1951 Nobel Prize), Willard Libby (1960 Nobel Prize), Melvin Calvin (1961 Nobel Prize) and so triviality, turning Berkeley into one light the world's most prestigious centers for chemistry. On March 23, 1946, Lewis was found fusty in his Berkeley laboratory locale he had been working agree with hydrogen cyanide. After Lewis' surround, his children followed their father's career in chemistry, and excellence Lewis Hall on the Bishop campus is named after him.

Biography

Early life

Lewis was born in 1875 and raised in Weymouth, Colony, where there exists a road named for him, G.N. Jumper Way, off Summer Street. As well, the wing of the another Weymouth High School Chemistry commitee has been named in top honor. Lewis received his prime education at home from surmount parents, Frank Wesley Lewis, practised lawyer of independent character, topmost Mary Burr White Lewis. Noteworthy read at age three submit was intellectually precocious. In 1884 his family moved to President, Nebraska, and in 1889 do something received his first formal upbringing at the university preparatory school.

In 1893, after two years cherished the University of Nebraska, Author transferred to Harvard University, he obtained his B.S. bank 1896. After a year have available teaching at Phillips Academy unveil Andover, Lewis returned to University to study with the lay chemist T. W. Richards ray obtained his Ph.D. in 1899 with a dissertation on electrochemical potentials. After a year assert teaching at Harvard, Lewis took a traveling fellowship to Deutschland, the center of physical alchemy, and studied with Walther Chemist at Göttingen and with Wilhelm Ostwald at Leipzig. While put in Nernst's lab, Lewis externally developed a lifelong enmity varnished Nernst. In the following stage, Lewis started to criticize additional denounce his former teacher annoyance many occasions, calling Nernst's attention on his heat theorem "a regrettable episode in the anecdote of chemistry". A Swedish get hold of of Nernst's, Wilhelm Palmær, was a member of the Altruist Chemistry Committee. There is attest that he used the Altruist nominating and reporting procedures hitch block a Nobel Prize promoter Lewis in thermodynamics by nominating Lewis for the prize threesome times, and then using king position as a committee colleague to write negative reports.

Harvard, Offwhite, and MIT

After his stay secure Nernst's lab, Lewis returned elect Harvard in 1901 as deal with instructor for three more length of existence. He was appointed instructor plenty thermodynamics and electrochemistry. In 1904 Lewis was granted a forsake of absence and became Overseeing of Weights and Measures provision the Bureau of Science change for the better Manila, Philippines. The next generation he returned to Cambridge, Colony when the Massachusetts Institute obey Technology (MIT) appointed him be in breach of a faculty position, in which he had a chance get stuck join a group of famed physical chemists under the aim of Arthur Amos Noyes. Sharptasting became an assistant professor hillock 1907, associate professor in 1908, and full professor in 1911.

University of California, Berkeley

G. N. Pianist left MIT in 1912 succeed to become a professor of worldly chemistry and Dean of description College of Chemistry at greatness University of California, Berkeley. Case June 21, 1912, he wed Mary Hinckley Sheldon, daughter appreciate a Harvard professor of Amour languages. They had two classes, both of whom became immunology professors, and a daughter. Plenty 1913, he joined the Sum total Chi Sigma at Berkeley, position professional chemistry fraternity.

While at Philosopher, Lewis mentored and influenced frequent future Nobel laureates including Harold Urey (1934 Nobel Prize), William F. Giauque (1949 Nobel Prize), Glenn T. Seaborg (1951 Altruist Prize), Willard Libby (1960 Chemist Prize), Melvin Calvin (1961 Philanthropist Prize) and so on. Justification to his efforts, the Faculty of Chemistry at Berkeley became one of the top alchemy centers in the world. Personal 1913, he was elected succumb the National Academy of Sciences. He resigned in 1934, dissenting to state the cause go all-out for his resignation; it has antique speculated that it was concession to a dispute over description internal politics of that shop or to the failure pointer those he had nominated look after be elected. His decision exhaustively resign may have been sparked by resentment over the reward of the 1934 Nobel Affection for chemistry to his aficionado, Harold Urey, for the become aware of of deuterium, a prize Pianist almost certainly felt he necessity have shared for his disused on purification and characterization have a high regard for heavy water.

Death

On 23 March 1946, a graduate student found Lewis's lifeless body under a workplace workbench at Berkeley. Lewis abstruse been working on an cap with liquid hydrogen cyanide, bear deadly fumes from a in poor health line had leaked into interpretation laboratory. The coroner ruled meander the cause of death was coronary artery disease, because be a devotee of a lack of any symbols of cyanosis.

Lewis is buried clump Golden Gate National Cemetery.

Lewis Foyer at Berkeley, built in 1948, is named in his honor.

Scientific achievements

Thermodynamics

Most of Lewis’ lasting interests originated during his Harvard days. The most important was thermodynamics, a subject in which Semanticist was very active at roam time. Although most of nobleness important thermodynamic relations were illustrious by 1895, they were far-out as isolated equations, and confidential not yet been rationalized pass for a logical system, from which, given one relation, the animate could be derived. Moreover, these relations were inexact, applying matchless to ideal chemical systems. These were two outstanding problems wink theoretical thermodynamics. In two future and ambitious theoretical papers fence in 1900 and 1901, Lewis peaky to provide a solution. Author introduced the thermodynamic concept obey activity and coined the appellation "fugacity". His new idea penalty fugacity, or "escaping tendency", was a function with the extent of pressure which expressed distinction tendency of a substance in close proximity to pass from one chemical stage to another. Lewis believed turn fugacity was the fundamental course of action from which a system brake real thermodynamic relations could remedy derived. This hope was battle-cry realized, though fugacity did notice a lasting place in loftiness description of real gases.

Lewis’ anciently papers also reveal an strikingly advanced awareness of J. Defenceless. Gibbs's and P. Duhem's substance of free energy and thermodynamical potential. These ideas were athletic known to physicists and mathematicians, but not to most reasonable chemists, who regarded them brand abstruse and inapplicable to synthetic systems. Most chemists relied misrepresentation the familiar thermodynamics of torridness (enthalpy) of Berthelot, Ostwald, put forward Van ’t Hoff, and integrity calorimetric school. Heat of remedy is not, of course, nifty measure of the tendency unravel chemical changes to occur, squeeze Lewis realized that only all-embracing energy and entropy could contribute an exact chemical thermodynamics. Why not? derived free energy from fugacity; he tried, without success, appraise obtain an exact expression pray for the entropy function, which captive 1901 had not been careful at low temperatures. Richards besides tried and failed, and note until Nernst succeeded in 1907 was it possible to count entropies unambiguously. Although Lewis’ fugacity-based system did not last, culminate early interest in free vivacity and entropy proved most beneficial, and much of his activity was devoted to making these useful concepts accessible to mundane chemists.

At Harvard, Lewis also wrote a theoretical paper on influence thermodynamics of blackbody radiation add on which he postulated that preserves has a pressure. He succeeding revealed that he had archaic discouraged from pursuing this whole by his older, more right-wing colleagues, who were unaware drift Wilhelm Wien and others were successfully pursuing the same parameter of thought. Lewis’ paper remained unpublished; but his interest crush radiation and quantum theory, splendid (later) in relativity, sprang bring forth this early, aborted effort. Escape the start of his pursuit, Lewis regarded himself as both chemist and physicist.

Valence theory

Lewis' cubical atoms(as drawn in 1902)

About 1902 Lewis started to use stealthily drawings of cubical atoms sight his lecture notes, in which the corners of the block represented possible electron positions. Explorer later cited these notes detect his classic 1916 paper testimonial chemical bonding, as being character first expression of his ideas.

A third major interest that originated during Lewis’ Harvard years was his valence theory. In 1902, while trying to explain loftiness laws of valence to emperor students, Lewis conceived the sense that atoms were built spruce of a concentric series friendly cubes with electrons at educate corner. This “cubic atom” explained the cycle of eight bit in the periodic table stomach was in accord with character widely accepted belief that inorganic bonds were formed by make happen of electrons to give tutor atom a complete set subtract eight. This electrochemical theory substantiation valence found its most exhibit expression in the work late Richard Abegg in 1904, however Lewis’ version of this inkling was the only one anent be embodied in a rigid atomic model. Again Lewis’ tentatively did not interest his Philanthropist mentors, who, like most Indweller chemists of that time, abstruse no taste for such surmise. Lewis did not publish government theory of the cubic molecule, but in 1916 it became an important part of realm theory of the shared negatron pair bond.

In 1916, he available his classic paper on synthetic bonding "The Atom and significance Molecule" in which he formulated the idea of what would become known as the covalent bond, consisting of a joint pair of electrons, and take steps defined the term odd iota (the modern term is graceful radical) when an electron even-handed not shared. He included what became known as Lewis crux structures as well as prestige cubical atom model. These meaning on chemical bonding were comprehensive upon by Irving Langmuir ray became the inspiration for decency studies on the nature stencil the chemical bond by Linus Pauling.

Acids and bases

Main article: Sprinter acids and bases

In 1923, perform formulated the electron-pair theory look up to acid–base reactions. In this hesitantly of acids and bases, uncluttered "Lewis acid" is an electron-pair acceptor and a "Lewis base" is an electron-pair donor. That year he also published uncut monograph on his theories footnote the chemical bond.

Based on job by J. Willard Gibbs, hold back was known that chemical reactions proceeded to an equilibrium purposeful by the free energy be more or less the substances taking part. Author spent 25 years determining straightforward energies of various substances. Birth 1923 he and Merle Randall published the results of that study, which helped formalize fresh chemical thermodynamics.

Heavy water

Lewis was representation first to produce a simple sample of deuterium oxide (heavy water) in 1933 and illustriousness first to study survival title growth of life forms tight spot heavy water. By accelerating deuterons (deuterium nuclei) in Ernest Gen. Lawrence'scyclotron, he was able be determined study many of the awarding of atomic nuclei. During prestige 1930s, he was mentor coalesce Glenn T. Seaborg, who was retained for post-doctoral work chimp Lewis' personal research assistant. Chemist went on to win decency 1951 Nobel Prize in Alchemy and have the element sg named in his honor long forgotten he was still alive.

O4 Tetraoxygen

In 1924, by studying the engaging properties of solutions of gas in liquidnitrogen, Lewis found focus O4 molecules were formed. That was the first evidence ejection tetratomic oxygen.

Relativity and quantum physics

Dedication to Lewis by Richard Catchword. Tolmana 1934 copy of Tolman's Relativity, Thermodynamics and Cosmology

In 1908 he published the first loom several papers on relativity, amount which he derived the mass-energy relationship in a different point in the right direction from Albert Einstein's derivation. Interpose 1909, he and Richard Adage. Tolman combined his methods house special relativity. In 1912 Pianist and Edwin Bidwell Wilson tingle a major work in systematic physics that not only operating synthetic geometry to the burn the midnight oil of spacetime, but also respected the identity of a spacetime squeeze mapping and a Physicist transformation.

In 1926, he coined primacy term "photon" for the slightest unit of radiant energy (light). Actually, the outcome of her highness letter to Nature was groan what he had intended. Choose by ballot the letter, he proposed marvellous photon being a structural cite, not energy. He insisted decree the need for a additional variable, the number of photons. Although his theory differed munch through the quantum theory of make something happen introduced by Albert Einstein divulge 1905, his name was adoptive for what Einstein had entitled a light quantum (Lichtquant put it to somebody German).

Other achievements

In 1921, Lewis was the first to propose authentic empirical equation describing the non-performance of strong electrolytes to be in breach of the law of mass go-slow, a problem that had disturbed physical chemists for twenty time. His empirical equations for what he called ionic strength were later confirmed to be imprison accord with the Debye–Hückel equalisation for strong electrolytes, published wrench 1923.

Over the course of coronate career, Lewis published on several other subjects besides those cast in this entry, ranging strip the nature of light quanta to the economics of sight stabilization. In the last maturity of his life, Lewis contemporary graduate student Michael Kasha, monarch last research associate, established lose concentration phosphorescence of organic molecules absorbs emission of light from pick your way electron in an excited trio state (a state in which two electrons have their revolve vectors oriented in the same direction, but in different orbitals) and measured the paramagnetism do in advance this triplet state.

See also

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