Wilfrid Bennett Lewis

_______ilfrid Bennett Lewis was a nuclear physicist who worked
_______on nuclear energy development for almost fifty years (Johnson, nd). He was born in Cumberland, England on June 24, 1908 (Johnson, nd). Lewis went to Cavendish Laboratory where he earned a doctorate (Fawcett, nd). He continued his nuclear research there until 1939 (Fawcett, nd). Lewis agreed to come to Canada to work on the research at Chalk River, and stayed there for 27 years (Fawcett, nd). He came in September 1946, when he was 38, and became the Director of Atomic Energy Research at the Chalk River site (Fawcett, nd Johnson, nd). Lewis directed the Canadian nuclear research program from 1946 to 1973 (Johnson, nd). He worked on the use of particle accelerators for nuclear reactions (Johnson, nd). In 1952, Lewis became vice-president of research and development for the AECL (Fawcett, nd; Johnson, nd) and in 1963 he became senior vice-president of Atomic Energy Canada Limited (Johnson, nd). Lewis worked on what would become CANDU (Johnson, nd). It was his idea to make the calandria horizontal rather that vertical, which allowed for loading while the reactor is running (Johnson, nd). Lewis served twenty-one years on the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Scientific Advisory Committee and was the Canadian representative to the United Nations Scientific Advisory Committee (Johnson, nd). Lewis received the Enrico Fermi award from the United States department of energy (Johnson, nd). It is because of Wilfrid Bennett CANDU is what it is today (Fawcett, nd).