Person Williams; Evan James (1903 - 1945); physicist Williams Evan James physicist 1903 - 1945 British Male Cwmsychbant, near Lampeter, near the border of Cardiganshire and Carmarthenshire, Wales, United Kingdom 08 June 1903 19030608 His parents' home, Brynawel, Cwmsychbant, near Lampeter, Cardiganshire, Wales, United Kingdom 29 September 1945 19450929

Physicist Physics Atomic physics Education: Llanwenog national school; Llandysul county school; Swansea Technical College, which became University College of Swansea, MSc 1924; University of Wales PhD 1926; Cambridge PhD 1929, DSc (Wales) 1930 Career: Leverhulme Fellow and Lecturer in Physics in the University of Liverpool. Professor elect in the University of Wales, Aberystwyth; spent a year with Niels Bohr in Copenhagen, Denmark; Chair of physics at Aberystwyth, Wales (1938); joined the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough to develop new physical methods of detecting submerged U-boats from the air (1940); joined P. M. S. Blackett in the operational research section at Coastal Command as principal scientific officer to improve the methods of finding and sinking U-boats (1941); director of operational research at Coastal Command (1941); diagnosed with cancer (1944). Parents: James Williams, stonemason, a zealous Congregationalist, and a winner of many prizes for Welsh lyrics at local eisteddfodau, and Elizabeth Lloyd. Siblings: Two brothers. Distinguished for both experimental and theoretical work on the passage of electrical particles through matter. His investigations of electron collisions showed the inapplicability of classical formulae and have helped to establish the correctness of quantal theory in this field. Experiments on photo-electric effect, on Compton effect, on scattering of hard gamma-rays and conservatism of energy in individual radiation processes have helped to verify the existing theory of radiation. Obtained experimental evidence for the existence of the heavy electron. Helped to develop the theory of the effect of temperature on atomic arrangement in alloys. Fellow 16/03/1939 35 Edward Victor Appleton William Lawrence Bragg Charles Galton Darwin John Douglas Cockcroft Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac Charles Thomson Rees Wilson Douglas Rayner Hartree Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett Ralph Howard Fowler James Chadwick Sources: Bulloch's Roll; DNB (MP) Obituaries: Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society 1945-1948 vol 5 pp 387-406, plate, by P M S Blackett International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families - ISAAR(CPF) - Ottawa 1996 ISBN 0-9696035-3-3 National Council on Archives, Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbm.1947.0007 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/action/doSearch?ContribAuthorRaw=Williams%2C+Evan+James 8 Jun 1903 - 29 Sep 1945 The past Fellows entries are under continuous revision. If you have queries or additional information to contribute, please contact Library@royalsociety.org. Content in external sources is not controlled by the Royal Society and historical sources may include content that is now unacceptable. Reviewed on 27/06/2025 as part of the Name Authority Project update. NA3701 21/11/2001 Andyg Martind 08/09/2025 RS_NET\VirginiaM Yes 6cb547de-28bd-469b-b5a9-d38157d500ff