Known for his tenacity, Professor Emeritus of Physics H. Ralph Lewis found no mountain too imposing to conquer.
An avid skier and climber, Lewis lost a three-year battle against multiple myeloma Monday night at his Hanover residence. Regular chemotherapy and radiation treatments forced him to retire from teaching soon after his 1998 diagnosis with the illness.
"He said until the last moment, 'I am determined to get better,'" Lewis' widow, Renatta Lewis, said. "He never gave up."
Lewis' Dartmouth career began in 1992, but he began teaching soon after receiving his doctorate in physics from the University of Illinois in 1958. He taught full-time at Princeton University from 1960 until 1963 before assuming a staff scientist position at the Los Alamos National Laboratories, where he remained until the mid-1980s.
At Dartmouth, Lewis taught both undergraduate and graduate-level courses, including Electricity and Magnetism and Plasma Physics.
"He published a lot of articles on plasma physics and controlled fusion," physics professor David Montgomery, Lewis' friend of 35 years, said. "His project at Los Alamos dealt with controlled nuclear fusion."
Lewis moved to Los Alamos "to join that group of prominent and excellent people there," Renatta said.
In addition to theoretical physics, Lewis was fascinated by music. "He was a good musician -- he had a lifelong interest in jazz," Montgomery said.
Renatta agreed. "The foremost talent that Ralph had outside physics was music. He was an excellent clarinetist."
Lewis participated in various musical ensembles and performed with the renowned cellist Jacqueline Dupree in 1961. At the physics conferences he attended, he brought his clarinet in the hopes of finding fellow musicians.
Among his accomplishments, Lewis translated the lecture notes of noted physicist Wolfgang Pauli from German to English.
As a Dartmouth professor, Lewis enjoyed working with students and continuing to research. He maintained "close contact with the doctoral students whom he nurtured and guided," Renatta said.
"His charm and his good nature and his insight in thinking made him very popular," she added. "He had lots of friends and admirers -- he was very well-liked."
Lewis is also survived by his two daughters, Annette and Beata.
