Gilbert Newton Lewis (1875-1946) was an American physical chemist whose concept of electron pairs led to modern theories of chemical bonding. His concept of acids and bases was another fundamental contribution.

Gilbert N. Lewis was born at Weymouth, Mass., on Oct. 23, 1875. He received his bachelor's degree in 1896 and his doctorate in 1899 from Harvard University and then served as instructor in chemistry at Harvard until 1900. After a year in Leipzig, Germany, he was in charge of the laboratories of the U.S. Bureau of Weights and Measures in the Philippine Islands in 1904-1905. He became assistant professor of physiochemical research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1907 and full professor in 1911. He married Mary H. Sheldon in 1912, and they had three children. Also in 1912 he accepted the chairmanship of a small chemistry department at the University of California at Berkeley, where he remained until his death.

In 1916 Lewis published...