[2] His father, a mining engineer, died during the First World War, leaving his wife Josephine Stockwell to raise the family alone.

She moved the family to Kelowna, British Columbia, where John attended public high school.

Williams performed his graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was awarded an MA degree in 1930 and a PhD the following year.

[3] Initially, his work at Minnesota was in the field of ionization and dissociation of gases, but he developed an interest in nuclear physics.

This was found insufficiently energetic, so in 1937 funds were obtained from the Rockefeller Foundation for construction of a 3 MeV generator.

[1] He underwent medical treatment in an effort to combat the condition, which was finally brought under limited control in 1960.

[2] Williams was instrumental in obtaining funding from the Atomic Energy Commission for the construction of a 50-MeV linear proton accelerator at the university, which became operational during the 1950s.