Williams was fond of pointing out that James Clerk Maxwell, generally understood to be the author of field theory, publicly attributed the idea to Faraday in a series of lectures in the 1870s.
Burtt, his mentor Henry Guerlac, and the émigré historian of science Alexandre Koyré) paid close attention to the "extra-scientific determinants of scientific thought", especially the religious views of important scientists.
At the end of his career he was at work in extending these insights concerning the complex interplay of science and philosophy in a biographical study of André-Marie Ampère, which remained unfinished at the time of his death.
A showman, he attracted standing-room-only crowds to his Western Civ lectures, speaking without notes for 50 minutes that combined abstract and profound concepts with an unusual ability to play to the peanut gallery.
He was elected chair of the History Department at the height of racial tensions on campus in 1969, and insisted that both rigorous, open-minded inquiry and high standards be the principles guiding any changes at Cornell.
He did not care at all about the race, creed, gender, or sexual orientation of anyone he worked with; he wanted the sharpest and most intellectually curious people he could get to belong to the department and to lead Cornell University.
His physical activities included hunting with his Weimaraner dogs, earning a black belt in karate in his 50s, playing touch football, and wood chopping, a benefit of which was his many hours spent by his fireside.
[citation needed] A self-described reluctant atheist, Williams nevertheless wanted the last words of his obituary to come from the New Testament: "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith," (2 Timothy 4:7 King James Version).