The anion [Os10C(CO)24]2−, prepared by the Jack Lewis laboratory.
He was knighted in 1982[11] and created Baron Lewis of NewnhamofNewnham in the County of Cambridgeshire on 8 February 1989.[12] He was a member of the House of Lords, where he sat as a cross bencher and was a member of a number of Select Committees on Science and Technology. He was also a member of the Advisory Council for the Campaign for Science and Engineering.[13] In 1993, he was made an Honorary Fellow of the University of Central Lancashire.[14] In 1995, he was awarded an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Science) by the University of Bath.[15] In 1998 he became the fourth Chairman of the Standing Committee on Structural Safety, serving until 2002.
Lewis's early career was dedicated to magnetic properties of metal complexes. He achieved significant acclaim for contributions to metal carbonyl clusters. Together with his longtime collaborator Brian F. G. Johnson, his research group discovered many structurally unusual compounds. Illustrative of their achievements is their synthesis of super tetrahedron [Os10C(CO)24]2−.[16]
When Lewis died, Robinson College flew its flag at half mast.[17] A memorial service in his memory was held in the college's chapel on 28 February 2015,[17] the day after a symposium on his work, chaired by Emeritus Professor Brian Johnson.[18] A staircase erected in his honour in the chapel is inscribed with his name and the words "his wisdom shaped this college".[17] Donations in his memory were used to create the "Lewis Research Studentship in Chemistry", a three-year graduate studentship in Chemistry at Robinson College.[18]
^Jackson, Peter F.; Johnson, Brian F. G.; Lewis, Jack; Nelson, William J. H.; McPartlin, Mary (1982). "The synthesis of the cluster dianion [Os10C(CO)24]2− by pyrolysis. X-Ray structure analysis of [N(PPh3)2]2[Os10C(CO)24] and [Os5C(CO)14H(NC5H4)]". Journal of the Chemical Society, Dalton Transactions (10): 2099. doi:10.1039/DT9820002099.
