Carroll Williams

{{Infobox scientist | name = Carroll Williams | honorific_suffix = | birth_name = Carroll Milton Williams | native_name_lang = | image = Carroll Williams at the Xth International Congress of Entomology (Montreal 1956).jpg | image_size = | image_upright = | alt = | caption = Carroll Williams in 1956 | birth_date = {{birth date |1916|12|02}} | birth_place = Oregon Hill, Virginia | death_date = {{death date and age |1991|10|11|1916|12|02}} | death_place = Watertown, Massachusetts | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | other_names = | pronounce = | residence = | citizenship = | nationality = | fields = Zoology | workplaces = Harvard University | patrons = | education = | alma_mater = University of Richmond<br />Harvard University<ref name=obit/> | thesis_title = A morphological and physiological analysis of the flight of Drosophila, with special reference to the factors controlling the frequency of wingbeat. | thesis_url = http://id.lib.harvard.edu/aleph/004011783/catalog | thesis_year = 1941 | doctoral_advisor = Charles Brues | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = Fotis Kafatos<ref name="kafatosphd">{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |first=Fotis|last=Kafatos |title=The escape of moths from the cocoon: biochemical, physiological, morphological, and developmental studies|publisher=Harvard University|date=1965 |url=http://id.lib.harvard.edu/aleph/001347100/catalog |oclc=16689507|website=harvard.edu}}</ref> | notable_students = | known_for = | influences = | influenced = | awards = George Ledlie Prize 1952 Newcomb Cleveland Prize | author_abbrev_bot = | author_abbrev_zoo = | spouse =  | partner =  | children = | signature =  | signature_alt = | website =  | footnotes = }}

'''Carroll Milton Williams''' (December 2, 1916 in Oregon Hill, Virginia {{mdash}} October 11, 1991 in Watertown, Massachusetts) was an American zoologist known for his work in entomology and developmental biology—in particular, metamorphosis in insects,<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.neperos.com/article/qt3o6y46c924d4c2 |title=Carroll Williams: experiments on the metamorphosis of butterflies}}</ref> for which he won the George Ledlie Prize. He performed groundbreaking surgical experiments on larvae and pupae,<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1991-10-20/news/1991293055_1_insect-juvenile-hormone-helicopter-flight |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120707215444/http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1991-10-20/news/1991293055_1_insect-juvenile-hormone-helicopter-flight |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 7, 2012 |title=Deaths elsewhere: Carroll M. Williams, 74, a Harvard University biologist |newspaper=The Baltimore Sun |date=October 20, 1991 |access-date=November 16, 2011}}</ref> and developed multiple new techniques, including the use of carbon dioxide as an anesthetic.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-10-15-me-212-story.html |title=Entomologists Hope Attention Will Plant Bug in Decision Makers' Ears |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |first=Don |last=Kendall |agency=Associated Press |date=October 15, 1989 |access-date=November 16, 2011}}</ref> His impact on entomology has been compared to that of Vincent Wigglesworth.<ref name="AmPhilSoc">{{Cite journal |jstor=987257 |title=Carroll Milton Williams (2 December 1916 - 11 October 1991) |journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society |volume=141 |number=1 |date=March 1997 |pages=116–121 |first1=F. C. |last1=Kafatos |first2=E. O. |last2=Wilson |author2-link=E. O. Wilson |first3=Daniel |last3=Branton |author3-link=Daniel Branton}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |chapter=Williams, Carroll Milton |year=2004 |page=2556 |doi=10.1007/0-306-48380-7_4592 |location=Encyclopedia of Entomology |author=Anon |title=Encyclopedia of Entomology |isbn=978-0-7923-8670-4}}</ref>

==Education== Williams was educated at the University of Richmond and Harvard University, where he was awarded a Ph.D. in zoology in 1941.<ref name=willphd>{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |first=Carroll Milton|last=Williams |title=A morphological and physiological analysis of the flight of Drosophila, with special reference to the factors controlling the frequency of wingbeat|publisher=Harvard University|date=1941 |url=http://id.lib.harvard.edu/aleph/004011783/catalog |oclc=28196048|website=harvard.edu}}</ref> Elected to the Harvard Society of Fellows, he also earned a M.D., ''summa cum laude''.<ref name=Pappenheimer>{{cite journal|last1=Pappenheimer|first1=A. M. Jr|title=Carroll Milton Williams 1916—1991|journal=Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences|date=1995|pages=413–23|url=http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/williams-carroll.pdf}}</ref>

==Career and research==

For his thesis he studied the wingbeat frequency of ''Drosophila'', using a stroboscopic device which he designed with the advice of Harold Edgerton.<ref name=Pappenheimer/>

In 1942, he began a series of experiments on metamorphosis. In the most famous one, he cut a pupa in half and connected the two halves with a small tube, to study the effect of the lesions on the metamorphosis.<ref>{{Cite web |last=DrWatson |date=2021-05-14 |title=Carroll Williams: experiments on the metamorphosis of butterflies |url=https://www.neperos.com/article/qt3o6y46c924d4c2 |access-date=2022-11-28 |website=Neperos |language=en}}</ref>

Next he studied the endocrine control of the development of the giant American silkworm ''Hyalophora cecropia'', introducing carbon dioxide as a surgical anesthetic. He showed that a hormone from the brain activated the prothoracic glands to release the moulting hormone ecdysone. When the juvenile hormone is present also, larvae moult to another larval stage. Juvenile hormone is not present during the larval-to-pupal or the pupal-to-adult moults. The pupae enter diapause which is broken when the brain has been chilled for weeks, after which it releases the brain hormone. Williams was the first to isolate juvenile hormone and ecdysone. With his students he studied cocoon-spinning behavior and the profound metabolic shutdown during diapause, and was the first to discover and isolate cocoonase and cytochrome b5,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/1996/03.21/MemorialMinutes.html |title=Memorial Minutes on Carroll Williams (FAS) and Aaron Gissen (HMS) and Louis Zetzel (HMS) |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604103432/http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/1996/03.21/MemorialMinutes.html |archive-date=June 4, 2011 |work=Harvard Gazette |date=March 21, 1996 |access-date=November 16, 2011}}</ref> as well as the "paper factor".<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1982/3/10/a-giant-among-bugs-pwhether-it/ |title=A Giant Among Bugs: Professor Williams' Entomological Legacy |work=Harvard Crimson |first=Rebecca J. |last=Joseph |date=March 10, 1982 |access-date=November 16, 2011}}</ref> He subsequently proposed that hormonal analogues could be used as pesticides by disrupting the developmental cycles of insects.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1970/5/11/third-generation-pesticides-pthe-chemicals-that-are/?print=1 |title=Third-Generation Pesticides |work=Harvard Crimson |author= |date=March 11, 1970 |access-date=November 16, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Henrick | first1 = C. A. | title = Methoprene | doi = 10.2987/8756-971X(2007)23[225:M]2.0.CO;2 | journal = Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association | volume = 23 | issue = 2 Suppl | pages = 225–239 | year = 2007 | pmid = 17853608}}</ref>

Williams was the chairman of the biology department at Harvard University from 1959 to 1962, and the Benjamin Bussey Professor of Biology from 1966 until his retirement in 1987.<ref name=obit>{{Cite journal|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807220231/http://peabody.research.yale.edu//jls/pdfs/1990s/1992/1992-46%282%29169-Telfer.pdf |url=http://peabody.research.yale.edu//jls/pdfs/1990s/1992/1992-46%282%29169-Telfer.pdf |archive-date=August 7, 2011 |title=OBITUARY: Carroll Milton Williams (1916-1991) |first=William H. |last=Telfer |journal=Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society |volume=46 |number=2 |date=August 20, 1992 |pages=169–171}}</ref> He was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, where he was a member of the Academy's council for two terms and chairman of biological sciences for one. He was also a member of the Institute of Medicine, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society.

==References== {{reflist|35em}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Carroll Milton}} Category:20th-century American zoologists Category:American entomologists Category:1916 births Category:1991 deaths Category:Deaths from lymphoma in Massachusetts Category:Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Category:Harvard University faculty Category:University of Richmond alumni Category:Members of the National Academy of Medicine Category:Members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Category:Harvard Medical School alumni