Dame Elsie Marjorie Williamson, DBE (30 July 1913, Wakefield, Yorkshire, England – 12 August 2002[1] Lower Raydon, Suffolk) was a British academic, educator, physicist and university administrator.
The only child of middle-aged parents[2] she attended Wakefield Girls' High School and went up to read physics at Royal Holloway College, University of London (RHC) in 1932, graduating in 1936.
By the time she retired as Principal in 1973, the college had admitted men as undergraduates since 1965 and expanded into new buildings, and staff had been recruited for new departments such as biochemistry, statistics, computer science and music.
On leaving Royal Holloway, Williamson moved to a small village in Warwickshire, where she acted as a volunteer for the National Trust at nearby Charlecote Park.
The Forgotten Women scheme will also honour her achievements by bringing her story to life in a series of performances of a piece entitled Professor Quantum by Wakefield College students.