Evan James Williams

• This is an English language adaptation of a book which was published in Welsh by the same author by UWP, Evan James Williams: Ffisegydd yr Atom. • The book discusses his career – what he achieved along those he worked with and the places he worked, most importantly the Physics Department at Aberystwyth University – and outlines his scientific service during the war. • It also looks at the man himself – his upbringing in a Welsh speaking home and community in Ceredigion - through the accounts given by those who knew him.

This book tells the story of the spirited Welshman, Evan James Williams, one of Wales's most eminent scientists, who became a world-renowned atomic physicist.This book presents the life and work of Professor Evan James Williams, described as one of Wales's most eminent scientists. Williams played a prominent part in the early twentieth-century revolution in physics with the emergence of quantum physics, and was an able experimentalist and brilliant theoretician who made notable contributions in atomic physics and the discovery of a new elementary particle. From humble beginnings in rural Cardiganshire, his stellar career is charted in this book as he climbed the academic ladder at a number of universities, culminating in his appointment as professor of physics at Aberystwyth and election to a fellowship of the Royal Society. During the Second World War, he was instrumental in applying operational research to thwart the threat of German submarines in the Atlantic. His career was cut short, however, by his early death in 1945.