Education
Williams completed his first degree and Doctor of Philosophy with thesis titled Defect structure and luminescent properties of semiconductors at the University of Cambridge, and began an academic career at Selwyn College.
Williams completed his first degree and Doctor of Philosophy with thesis titled Defect structure and luminescent properties of semiconductors at the University of Cambridge, and began an academic career at Selwyn College.
He then moved to industry and worked first at VG Instruments and later Oxford Instruments. He was chairman of Oxford Instruments from 1991 until his retirement in 1999. Sir Peter is currently Chairman of the National Physical Laboratory and Vice President and Treasurer of the Royal Society.
He was previously Master of Street Catherine"s College, Oxford (2000–2002), President of the Institute of Physics (2000–2002), President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (2002–2003) and Chairman of the United Kingdom"s Engineering and Technology Board (2001–2006).
He was elected as Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 1996. He received the Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1992 and was knighted in the Queen"s Birthday Honours list of 1998.
He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in May 1999. In 2005 Williams became the fifth chancellor of the University of Leicester.
He was also appointed patron for research at Marie Curie Cancer Care.
He retired from this position in 2010.
Royal Society]
He has been a member of the Interacademy Council"s Committee to Review the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that reported in August 2010.