Les William
J. L. (Les) William(January 18, 1915 – June 4, 1994) was a builder of scientific instruments. Born in Melbourne, Australia he was known for his beautiful and precision craftsmanship and was known as one of the best scientific instrument makers in Australia. His equipment can be found in Australian laboratories that existed from the 1930s through to the 1980s. He founded a company situated in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond called J.L. William Scientific Instruments. Les attended Caulfield Technical School and worked at his brother's firm during World War 2. Soon after he set up his own instrumentation company. Les never married. In his later years Les suffered from motor neurone disease.
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). During the Second World War the two brothers worked together producing electrical meters. After the war Austin continued on in the manufacture of electrical meters while Les split off starting his own company producing high accuracy standard resistors [1]. He died in Melbourne on June 4, 1994. In his will Les made a substantial bequest to Monash University Department of Physics.
A portrait of J. L. (Les) William was recently commissioned by Monash University's School of Physics. The portrait was painted by the Adelaide artist Ms Avril Thomas. The J. L. William Bequest to the School of Physics specifically mentions "quantum measurements", and so his portrait is in plan to be displayed in the the Monash University's New Horizons Centre, a multi-disciplinary building which encompasses energy research, low dimensional and nano material physics research, atom optics, laser trapping and cooling, and Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs).
J L William Scholarships
As a result of William's bequest Monash University's School of Physics now offers students scholarships on his behalf. This scholarship offers honors and postgraduate students a stipend ranging from $5,000.00 to $30,000.00 [2]
.svg){kind=small}  | This Australian biography article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
- ^ From conversation with Mr. Roger Bucknell a former employee of J.L. William Scientific Instruments
- ^ http://monash.edu/science/about/schools/physics/scholarships.html