Gilbert N. Lewis

Lore & Background

Lewis was born in 1875 in Weymouth, Massachusetts, and was intellectually precocious, reading at age three. He earned his PhD from Harvard in 1899, studied in Germany under Walther Nernst and Wilhelm Ostwald, and later taught at Harvard and MIT before moving to Berkeley in 1912. At Berkeley, he became dean of the college of chemistry and reformed chemical thermodynamics, making it mathematically rigorous and accessible. In 1916, he proposed his theory of bonding and added electron information to the periodic table. He also purified a sample of heavy water and developed his theory of acids and bases.

Reader's Guide

Gilbert N. Lewis's significance lies in his foundational contributions to chemical bonding and thermodynamics. His concept of the covalent bond and electron pairs, along with Lewis dot structures, remain central to chemistry education and theory. He also advanced thermodynamics by measuring free energy values and incorporating rigorous mathematical methods. Despite being nominated 41 times, Lewis never won the Nobel Prize, a major controversy. However, he mentored numerous Nobel laureates at Berkeley, including Harold Urey, William F. Giauque, Glenn T. Seaborg, Willard Libby, and Melvin Calvin, elevating Berkeley into a world-leading chemistry center. His death in his laboratory, possibly by suicide, followed a lunch with rival Irving Langmuir. Lewis Hall on the Berkeley campus is named after him.

Did You Know?

• Lewis coined the term 'photon' in 1926 for the smallest unit of radiant energy.
• He was nominated for the Nobel Prize 41 times but never won.
• He mentored five future Nobel laureates at Berkeley, including Harold Urey and Glenn T. Seaborg.
• Lewis was found dead in his Berkeley laboratory after working with hydrogen cyanide; the cause was ruled coronary artery disease, but suicide was suspected.