Carroll Williams

Who was Carroll Williams?

Carroll Milton Williams was an American zoologist known for his work in entomology and developmental biology -- in particular, metamorphosis in insects, for which he won the George Ledlie Prize. He performed groundbreaking surgical experiments on larvae and pupae, and developed multiple new techniques, including the use of carbon dioxide as an anesthetic. His impact on entomology has been compared to that of Vincent Wigglesworth.

Williams was the first to isolate juvenile hormone and ecdysone, and discovered cocoonase and cytochrome b5, as well as the "paper factor". He subsequently proposed that hormonal analogues could be used as pesticides by disrupting the developmental cycles of insects.

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. 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.