James Gordon Williams

Abstract James Gordon Williams was a giant in his field of polymer engineering and in particular in the area of fracture and fracture mechanics. He joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Imperial College London as an undergraduate in 1958, having served as an apprentice at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough, since 1956. He remained at Imperial through to the end of his life. He completed his PhD with Hugh Ford (FRS 1967) in 1963 on the then new topic of the mechanical properties of polymers. This proved an inspired choice since polymer science and engineering grew very rapidly, with major companies developing new products that demanded new materials and new engineering solutions for measuring and predicting their mechanical properties. He joined the academic staff of the Department of Mechanical Engineering in 1962, was promoted to a chair in polymer engineering in 1975 and served as head of department from 1990 to 2000. He became an emeritus professor in 2018. While his interests included all mechanical properties, over time Gordon’s emphasis moved towards fracture and particularly applying fracture mechanics to polymers, which was a rapidly developing field. He published the definitive book on the subject, Fracture mechanics of polymers, in 1984. His interests then broadened to include the fracture of composites and adhesives, and to providing standard test methods. Gordon also became involved in the theory of cutting as a method for measuring the toughness of soft materials including polymers such as polyethylene but also foods such as cheese. In 2016, upon his return from a conference in Sicily, he fell from a ladder while he was pruning climbing wall plants in his garden and suffered serious head injuries. Although he made an amazing recovery, he did not undertake scientific work again.