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How Did Gilbert Newton Lewis Contribute To Chemistry

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Gilbert Newton Lewis was a prominent American physical chemist. He was born on October 23, 1875, in Weymouth, Massachusetts. His father was Frank Wesley Lewis and his mother was Mary Burr White Lewis. In 1884 his family moved from Weymouth to Lincoln, Nebraska. There he spent most of his childhood and was homeschooled by his parents through the English tutoring system until the age of 14, which was when he began attending the University of Nebraska in Lincoln (LeMaster & McGann, n.d.). During his time at the university, he was frequently unsatisfied with the level of education he was being taught. Lewis had shown extreme intelligence ever since his youthful years, and so the subjects he was instructed about were already mastered in Lewis’s knowledge. After two years of …show more content…

He received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1896 (Jensen, n.d.). Lewis then took up a job teaching at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. After one year, he returned to Harvard to receive his master’s degree in 1898 and, a year later, he earned his PhD in 1899 by writing an exceptional essay regarding electrochemistry and chemical equilibrium. It was during the process of earning his PhD that Lewis first became interested in thermodynamics under his instructor, Theodore WIlliam Richards. After receiving both degrees, he stayed at Harvard and taught as a professor for a year. In 1901, Lewis took the opportunity to travel to Germany and worked in Ostwald’s and Nernst’s labs for a year. Both were notable German chemists who received the Nobel Prize for their research in chemical equilibrium and thermodynamics, respectively (LeMaster & McGann, n.d.). Following his collaboration with the two chemists, Lewis returned to Harvard and instructed for another three years. In 1905, Lewis became the superintendent of weights and measures in Manila, Philippines, for one

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