Richard Tecwyn Williams

Who was Richard Tecwyn Williams?

Richard Tecwyn Williams FRS was a Welsh biochemist who founded the systematic study of xenobiotic metabolism with the publication of his book Detoxication mechanisms in 1947. This seminal book built on his earlier work on the role of glucuronic acid in the metabolism of borneol.

He was born in Abertillery, Wales in 1909 and educated at the Gelli Crug Junior School and Secondary School, Abertillery. He then went on to University College, Cardiff to study chemistry and physiology and was awarded his B.Sc. degree in 1928. In 1931, he published the structure of glucuronic acid in the leading scientific journal, Nature.

In 1949 he took up the chair of biochemistry at St Mary's Hospital Medical School in London where, in the 1950s, he worked on the metabolism of thalidomide.

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in March 1967. His application citation read: "The researches of Williams have been largely responsible for laying the foundations of biochemical toxicology. He has worked on the metabolism of aliphatic alcohols, alicyclic hydrocarbons, benzenes and alkylbenzenes, sulphonamides, drugs of a wide variety, heterocycles, and organotin compounds.