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WILLIAMS, EVAN JAMES (1903 - 1945), scientist
Date of birth: 1903
Date of death: 1945
Parent: James Williams
Parent: Elizabeth Williams (née Lloyd)
Gender: Male
Occupation: scientist
Area of activity: Science and Mathematics
Author: Griffith Milwyn Griffiths
Born 8 June 1903 at Cwmsychpant, Cardiganshire, the son of James Williams, mason and Elizabeth (née Lloyd), his wife. He proceeded from the primary school at Llanwenog to the county school at Llandysul, and from there to the University College of Swansea, where he took a first-class honours degree in physics in 1923. He pursued scientific researches at Swansea, Manchester and Cambridge, and had obtained the degrees of Ph.D. (Manc.), Ph.D. (Cantab.) and D.Sc. (Wales) by 1930. Between 1929 and 1938 he was lecturer successively at the Universities of Manchester and Liverpool, and he was for a session (1933-34) at the University of Copenhagen. In 1938 he was appointed to the chair of physics at Aberystwyth, but his career there was interrupted by the outbreak of war, and from 1939 to 1945 he was engaged in scientific research in connection with the armed forces. He was elected F.R.S. in 1939. He was a scientific officer at the Royal Air Force establishment at Farnborough, 1939-41, director of research for the R.A.F. Coastal Command, 1941-42, scientific adviser to the Navy on methods of combating submarines, 1943-44, and assistant director of research in the Navy, 1944-45.
He died 29 September 1945. A list of his publications and an appreciation of his work as a scientist and of the significant part which he played in the battle against submarines are given by P.M.S. Blackett in Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society, vol 5, No. 15, 1947.
Author
- Griffith Milwyn Griffiths
- Who was who?, 1941-50
- The Times, 2 October 1945
- Western Mail, 2 October 1945 and 20 September 1961
- P. M. S. Blackett, 'Evan James Williams, 1903-1945,' Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society 5: 386-406 (1947)
- J. Tysul Jones (ed.), Yr Athro Evan James Williams, D.Sc., F.R.S., 1903-1945 gwyddonydd o Gymro byd-enwog/a world famous Welsh scientist (Llandysul 1971)
Sources
- Rowland Wynne, Evan James Williams: Atomic Physicist (University of Wales Press 2020)
- Evan James 'Desin' Williams (1903 – 1945), From Warfare to Welfare website, accessed 30 May 2019
- Wikipedia Article: Evan James Williams
Further Reading
Published date: 2001
Article Copyright: http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/
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