Who was J. L. William?

Les William was born in Melbourne on January 18, 1915. He was one of the best scientific instrument makers in Australia. From the 1930s to the 1980s there cannot be many laboratories in this country that have not possessed an example of his beautiful craftsmanship. His name on an electrical instrument was a guarantee of excellence, both in terms of precision and beauty. Les William liked to recall Lord Kelvin's dictum that one did not truly understand a scientific quantity until one could measure it and provide an accurate numerical value.

William's career was closely linked to that of his older brother Austin (1913-85). Les was the instrument designer, Austin the businessman. Les attended Caulfield Technical School, as did Austin before him, and worked at his brother's firm during World War 2 and soon after set up his own instrument company.

Neither Les nor Austin married. In his later years Les suffered from motor neurone disease. He died in Melbourne on June 4, 1994. In his will Les made a substantial bequest to Monash University Department of Physics.

The above is taken, in part, from the obituary notice written by Professor Bert Bolton. (The full notice appeared in “The Australian” on Tuesday 5 July 1994, page 17)