Background
Weedon was born in 1908 in Wilmington, Delaware, the only son of William Stone Weedon Senior and Mary C. Weedon. His father, a chemist, died when his son William Junior. was only four.
Weedon was born in 1908 in Wilmington, Delaware, the only son of William Stone Weedon Senior and Mary C. Weedon. His father, a chemist, died when his son William Junior. was only four.
He held a Doctor of Philosophy from University of Virginia as well as an Master of Surgery from Harvard and Wesleyan Universities. At Harvard he studied under Alfred North Whitehead as a Special Scholar.
Mr. Weedon taught many subjects at The University of Virginia and Wesleyan. Later on he would join the faculty at UVA and teach disciplines ranging from Mathematics to Philosophy. In 1963 Doctor Weedon assumed the professorship of "University Professor" at UVA - an honor which enabled him to teach a broad range of disciplines throughout the University.
Professor Weedon taught some classes using the R. L. Moore method.
He would give a list of axioms for some abstract operation and challenge students to prove something with no hints given. This technique sharpened one"s reasoning skills.
Weedon was an officer in the United States Navy, and so his scholarly life was often interrupted by war service. He left his posts at universities to serve his country during World World War II as well as the Korean War.
He earned The Bronze Star in World War 2 and was said to have saved his ship from bombing by intercepting Japanese Coded messages.
He had the unusual ability as a westerner at that time of being able to understand and speak a variety of Asian languages. This led him to a team that was involved in cryptanalysis during World World War II for the purposes of breaking enemy codes. During the Korean War, he participated in negotiations that would bring an end to the active conflict.
His service to the United States would continue as a consultant on the far east on behalf of the Department of Defense for some years afterwards.
He died in Charlottesville, Virginia at the age of 75 from cancer.
Doctor Weedon was a vocal proponent of developing seminars in the liberal arts at UVA, and he especially was interested in the largely unexplored connections between Platonism and Asian Philosophies.