Bennett Lewis

Who was Bennett Lewis?

Wilfrid Bennett Lewis, CC CBE FRSC FRS was a Canadian nuclear scientist and administrator, and was centrally involved in the development of the CANDU reactor.

Born in Castle Carrock, Cumberland, England, he earned a doctorate in physics at Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge in 1934, and continued his research in nuclear physics there until 1939. From 1939 until 1946, he was with the Air Ministry, becoming Chief Superintendent of the Telecommunications Research Establishment. In 1946, he moved to Canada, to become director of the division of Atomic Energy Research at the National Research Council of Canada in Chalk River, Ontario. From 1952 until 1963, he was Vice President, Research and Development of the Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, and was Senior Vice President, Science from 1963 until 1973.

Starting in the mid-1940s, Lewis directed the development and championed the CANDU system, with its natural uranium fuel moderated by heavy water to control neutron flux. The CANDU has proven its value for commercial power applications, showing outstanding efficiency and safety records. AECL also became a world leader in the production of radioisotopes for medical purposes.