Nathan Lewis

Nathan S. Lewis is the George L. Argyros Professor of Chemistry at the California Institute of Technology. He specializes in functionalization of silicon and other semiconductor surfaces, as well as chemical sensing using chemiresistive sensor arrays. He obtained his B.S. and M.S. degrees also at Caltech under Harry B. Gray in 1977 studying the redox reactions of inorganic rhodium complexes. After that, he moved to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for his Ph.D. in 1981 under Mark S. Wrighton studying semiconductor electrochemistry. He then went on to Stanford, first as an assistant professor from 1981 to 1985 and then as a tenured Associate Professor from 1986 to 1988 before relocating to Caltech.

Lewis also researched cold fusion in the 1980s. When Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann announced their discovery of controlled cold fusion at a press conference, Lewis was unable to reproduce the results. Neither were any of the countless scientists scrambling to verify the discovery. Subsequently, at the meeting of the American Physical Society to deal with the matter, Lewis and Caltech physicist Steven E. Koonin questioned the validity of the results. Lewis explained the shortcomings in the experimental procedure of Pons and Fleischmann, debunking the idea of cold fusion. His address was followed by a standing ovation by over two thousand physicists. He later remarked "I felt like Kareem or something."

Currently, Dr. Lewis is researching solar energy, and in July, 2010 was named as director of a U.S. Department of Energy Energy Innovation Hub to develop revolutionary methods to generate fuels directly from sunlight . He was named the 17th greatest effector of change by Rolling Stone magazine, and has been appointed chair of the Editorial Board for Energy and Environmental Science.

External links

• The Lewis Group - Nate Lewis
• Presentations regarding challenges involved with widespread adoption of renewable energy technologies
• Nathan Lewis to Head Energy Innovation Hub