Robley C. Williams
University of California, Berkeley
October 13, 1908 - January 3, 1995
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Scientific Discipline: Biochemistry Membership Type:
Member
(elected 1955)
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Biophysicist Robley Williams studied the structure of viruses by observing through an electron microscope the shadows they cast on a flat surface. He focused his research on the tobacco mosaic virus, which he found to be icosahedral in shape, the first of that shape to be discovered. Through his observation of the tobacco mosaic virus’s structure he was able to deduce its function and to reconstruct the virus from its separated protein and RNA components.
Williams attended Cornell University, earning his BS degree in 1931 and his PhD in physics in 1935. The University of Michigan appointed him assistant professor of astronomy and an associate professor of physics. In 1950 he joined the faculty at the University of California, Berkeley, as a professor of the Department of Virology. Within the University of California system he served as an associate director of the Virus Laboratory and chairman of the Department of Molecular Biology. The Biophysical Society elected Williams its first president in 1958.
