Published by the MIT News Office at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.
Published by the MIT News Office at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Cambridge, Mass.
Glenn C. Williams Dies at 76 A memorial service was held July 10 at the First Parish Church, Lexington, for Glenn C. Williams, professor emeritus of chemical engineering, who died of an aneurysm July 2 at his home in Lexington. He was 76. Professor Williams, who began teaching at MIT in 1940, was an authority on missile propulsion. He headed MIT's Torpedo Fuel Laboratory during World War II, work that was recognized with the Navy Ordnance Development Award, and later served as director of the MIT Fuels Research Laboratory. He was a former president of the Combustion Institute and in the late 1940s was an adviser to the Pentagon on military propulsion systems. In 1980 the Combustion Institute recognized him for "his distinguished, continuing and encouraging contributions to the field of combustion" and presented him with the Sir Alfred C. Egerton Gold Medal. He held three patents and was the author of many articles. He co- authored a book, Thermodynamics Charts for Combustion Processes, with H.C. Hottel and C.N. Satterfield in 1949. A native of Princeton, Iowa, Professor Williams received the bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Illinois and the ScD from MIT in 1942. He was deeply interested in graduate-level education and for many years was the graduate officer for the Department of Chemical Engineering and a member of the Committee on Graduate School Policy. He leaves his wife, Dorothy (Bryan) Williams; a daughter, Cheryl O'Donnell of Rumford, R.I.; a son, Glenn L. Williams of Little Rock, Ark., and three grandchildren. A memorial service to be held during the coming academic year at MIT is being planned.