Who is Lewis Alpers from Revolution and what is their importance?

Lewis Alpers, Andi's father, is a successful scientist, who won the Nobel Prize for cracking the genome. His extended absences from home, which resulted from his work, caused a strain on his marriage that fell apart with the death of his young son. Andi puts some of the blame for her mother's emotional problems on her father, particularly after he places her in a psychiatric hospital. In the end, Lewis and Andi are too angry and too distant from one another to ever develop a relationship again.