Preparatory paths for Lewis and their interest in chemical bonds

Abstract

In order to guide the reader in the context of the elaboration of Gilbert Newton Lewis’s shared pair theory (1875-1946), we focus on the original documents published by him and the available productions of the authors that have become relevant to the development of the his structural model, called the cubic atom. From the case study research methodology, we approach Lewis’s school experience, or academic preparation, we trace the paths traveled by his predecessors and contemporaries. Aiming to subsidize the works of History of Science and Teaching, we seek to approach the researcher in its context, as well as the construction of knowledge of G. Lewis’s theory of bond. Since his arrival in Berkeley in 1912, Lewis has devoted himself strongly to research. Among several other works of great relevance to chemistry, he postulated that the neutral atom would tend to keep an even number of electrons in a Shell around the nucleus; such a number could vary if arranged symmetrically in the eight corners of a cube.