Background
Harold Lewis was born on October 1, 1923, in New York City, New York, United States. His father was a textile salesman who immigrated from Russia; his mother was born in the United States. He had two elder brothers.
New York, NY 10003, USA
Lewis entered New York University in 1940 and graduated in physics.
University of California, Berkeley, California, USA
Lewis earned a master's degree from the University of California, Berkeley from 1943 to 1944 before joining the Navy. In 1948 he received there a Ph.D. degree.
New York, NY 10003, USA
Lewis entered New York University in 1940 and graduated in physics.
University of California, Berkeley, California, USA
Lewis earned a master's degree from the University of California, Berkeley from 1943 to 1944 before joining the Navy. In 1948 he received there a Ph.D. degree.
(What are the real dangers, if any, toxic chemicals, the g...)
What are the real dangers, if any, toxic chemicals, the greenhouse effect, microwave radiation, nuclear power, air travel, automobile travel, carcinogens of all kinds, and other threats to our peace of mind? Two questions face all of us: how real are these risks and, if real, how do we manage our lives in order to avoid personal damage from them? The book examines these questions, delving into the nature and true seriousness of risk (as opposed to how bad the risk seems to be), into how we measure risk and how we regulate it.
https://www.amazon.com/Technological-Risk-H-W-Lewis/dp/0393308294
1992
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https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/156731581X/?tag=2022091-20
1997
Harold Lewis was born on October 1, 1923, in New York City, New York, United States. His father was a textile salesman who immigrated from Russia; his mother was born in the United States. He had two elder brothers.
Lewis entered New York University in 1940 and graduated in physics. He earned a master's degree from the University of California, Berkeley, studying there from 1943 to 1944 before joining the Navy. In 1948 he received there a Ph.D. degree.
Harold Lewis, along with the other theoretical physics professors at Berkeley, refused to sign the McCarthy era loyalty oath on principle, and in 1950 went to Princeton. Later, when offered reinstatement at Berkeley, he chose instead to accept a position at Bell Labs where he did research on superconducting materials. In 1956 he left Bell Labs to join the University of Wisconsin, Madison to work on solid state physics and plasmas. In 1964, he left to join the University of California, Santa Barbara as a full professor, and later chairman, in their growing physics department. He retired from UCSB in 1991.
He wrote a text on the trade-offs between technological advances and risks, and also authored a popular book on decision making. Lewis worked as a chairman of the JASON Defense Advisory Group from 1966 to 1973, when he worked on the issue of missile defense. He was a long-term staff member of the Defense Science Board (DSB), and chaired a 1985 DSB Task Force (with Stephen Schneider) on nuclear winter. Lewis was active in the field of safety of nuclear power plants. In 1975, he chaired a year-long study of light-water reactor safety for the American Physical Society (APS). Lewis chaired the 1977-1979 Risk Assessment Review for the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
In his 1990 book Technological Risk, Lewis wrote that "all models agree that the net effect" of increasing greenhouse gases "will be a general and global warming of the earth; they only disagree about how much. In a letter dated October 6, 2010, Lewis wrote to Curtis Callan, President of the American Physical Society (APS), resigning from the society. Lewis said that he had joined the APS 67 years previously, when it was "as yet uncorrupted by the money flood" which he said had "become the raison d’être of much physics research, the vital sustenance of much more, and it provides the support for untold numbers of professional jobs."
On October 12 the APS issued a statement that there was no truth in Lewis's accusations; it pointed out that the vast majority of its membership works in areas not dealing with climate change, and its policy statements were developed in accordance with strict ethical standards. The APS completely rejected Lewis's claims of "scam" and "fraud", stating that virtually all reputable scientists were agreed on observations of human-caused global warming. Responding to complaints Lewis raised alleging rejection of a petition for a Topical Group on Climate Science, Callan said the proposal had been accepted and was being implemented, but unfortunately Lewis had decided to resign rather than participate.
(What are the real dangers, if any, toxic chemicals, the g...)
1992(Want to know why some people seem to make so many right d...)
1997In 2010, after 67 years of membership, Harold Lewis resigned from the American Physical Society, citing what he saw as "corruption" from "the money flood" of government grants related to global warming.
Harold met his future wife Mary at the University of California in Berkeley. They had two children and later moved to Santa Barbara, California in 1964.
