Background
Trevor Illtyd Williams was born on July 16, 1921 in Bristol, United Kingdom. He was the son of Illtyd Williams (1875-1947), a physics lecturer at Bristol University, and Alma Mathilde (Sohlberg) Williams (1884-1956).
The Avenue, Bristol BS8 3HE, UK
Trevor Illtyd Williams was educated at Bristol’s Clifton College in 1934-1939.
High St, Oxford OX1 4AW, UK
Trevor Illtyd Williams was educated at Queens College, Oxford, where he received his Bachelor of Science degree under Wilson Baker. He also received his Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy (in 1945) degrees from the University of Oxford.
(Until the publication of this book, historians had largel...)
Until the publication of this book, historians had largely neglected the effects of technology on the course of human history. Political, economic, and social factors had long been taken into account, but technological advances were not studied in the context of the history of the ages in which they occurred. It remained for the authors of this readable, profusely illustrated survey to relate technological developments to the history of each epoch.
https://www.amazon.com/Short-History-Technology-Earliest-D/dp/0486274721/?tag=2022091-20
1960
(This is the only full length biography of Sir Robert Robi...)
This is the only full length biography of Sir Robert Robinson, one of the last great organic chemists in the classical tradition. The book provides coverage of Robinson's work, much of which was of great industrial importance.
https://www.amazon.com/Robert-Robinson-Extraordinary-Trevor-Williams/dp/0198581807/?tag=2022091-20
1990
(A History of Technology occupies so important a place in ...)
A History of Technology occupies so important a place in the public mind as the definitive work on technology - and it is so fundamental to the scholar in the new and burgeoning field - that is is not surprising that it was deemed worthy of the full-scale review occupying an entire issue of Technology and Culture.
https://www.amazon.com/History-Technology-Twentieth-Century-c-1900/dp/0198581513/?tag=2022091-20
chemist science historian writer
Trevor Illtyd Williams was born on July 16, 1921 in Bristol, United Kingdom. He was the son of Illtyd Williams (1875-1947), a physics lecturer at Bristol University, and Alma Mathilde (Sohlberg) Williams (1884-1956).
Trevor Illtyd Williams was educated at Bristol’s Clifton College in 1934-1939 and after at Queens College, Oxford, where he received his Bachelor of Science degree under Wilson Baker.
Williams also received his Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy (in 1945) degrees from the University of Oxford.
Trevor Illtyd Williams was Nuffield Research Scholar during 1942–1945, working with Howard Florey and Ernst Chain on penicillin and other antibiotics. During his research, Williams employed absorption chromatography to purify helvolic acid.
Williams’s first book "An Introduction to Chromatography" was published in 1946, followed one year later by "Drugs from Plants", and a publication on the history of chemical industry "Fifty Years of Progress: The Story of the Castner-Kellner Alkali Company, 1895-1945" (1947). In the latter case, as with many industry-sponsored publications, he was not acknowledged as the author. In 1953 he published "The Chemical Industry, Past and Present", that later was republished as a set book for the U.K. Open University courses. His second book on chromatography "The Elements of Chromatography" was published in 1956.
In 1955, he succeeded his former teacher and historian of chemistry, Erik J. Holmyard, as an editor of Endeavour, a post he held until 1996, retiring only after the subsequent owner, Pergamon, was taken over by Elsevier. Williams was managing editor of the five-volume "History of Technology". The original five-volumes were condensed to a single volume, co-authored with Thomas K. Derry, and entitled "A Short History of Technology from the Earliest Times to A.D. 1900" (1960), followed by "A Short History of Twentieth Century Technology c.1900-c.1950" (1982).
From 1962, Williams was academic relations adviser for Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI). Through this post he became involved in the distribution of postdoctoral fellowships and research grants, and negotiations between universities, government and industry. Subsequently, he served on committees of the Royal Society and the Ministry of Overseas Development. The employment at ICI ended in 1974 with a reduction in funding for academic research.
Among other historical works, he updated Alexander Findlay's "A Hundred Years of Chemistry" (1965). However, his most significant contribution was undoubtedly the Biographical Dictionary of Scientists, of which four editions appeared between 1968 and 1994. Among the biographies that he authored are "Florey, Penicillin and After" (1984), and "Robert Robinson, Chemist Extraordinary" (1990). His "A History of the British Gas Industry" (1981) is the only comprehensive work on the subject. His last book "Our Scientific Heritage-An A to Z of Great Britain and Ireland-Science" (1996) was a survey of scientific sites and appeared shortly before his death.
(A History of Technology occupies so important a place in ...)
(This is the only full length biography of Sir Robert Robi...)
1990(Until the publication of this book, historians had largel...)
1960
Williams was chair of the predecessor of the Society for the History of Chemistry and Alchemy, the Society for the Study of Alchemy and Early Chemistry (1967-1974), a joint editor of Annals of Science (1966-1974), and a member of the advisory council of the Science Museum (1972-1984).
He was also a fellow of the Royal Society Chemistry, Royal History Society, and a member of Athenaeum Club.
Trevor Illtyd Williams married Sylvia Irene Armstead on September 13, 1952. The marriage produced five children - Darryl, Lloyd, Clare, Adam, and Benjamin.