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DR. ROBERT WILLIAMS - Biography

Dr. Robert Williams is currently the Distinguished Research Scholar of
the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, MD, having
served as Director of the Institute from 1993-98. The Institute, together
with Goddard Space Flight Center, operates the orbiting Hubble Space
Telescope for NASA. Before assuming his present position Williams spent 8
years in Chile as Director of the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory,
the national observatory of the U.S. in the southern hemisphere. Previous
to that time he was Professor of Astronomy at the University of Arizona in
Tucson for 18 years. Dr. Williams' research specialties are novae, which
are exploding stars, spectroscopy, and nebular gas clouds. Recently he has
also devoted considerable effort to defining programs for the Hubble
Telescope to study distant galaxies in the early universe.

As Director of the 500-person Space Telescope Science Institute,
Williams was responsible for defining the science program and operation of
the Hubble Telescope. An active research astronomer for all his
professional life, Williams is a strong champion of public outreach and
education in science, and he has lectured widely on astronomy and the
recent scientific results that have come out of the Hubble telescope.

Williams originates from Southern California and received his
undergraduate degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 1962,
and a Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Wisconsin in 1965. He was
a Senior Fulbright Professor at the University of London from 1971-72, and
received the Alexander von Humboldt Award from the German government in
1991. In 1997 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,
and in 1998 he was awarded the Beatrice Tinsley Prize of the American
Astronomical Society for his leadership of the Hubble Deep Field project,
involving over 50 scientists using the Hubble telescope for two weeks to
take the deepest-ever look into space, which revealed thousands of
galaxies, many of them in their infancy. For this project using the
Hubble, NASA awarded him the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal in
1999, its highest civilian honor.

Williams has authored over 100 professional research papers in the
astronomical literature on a wide variety of topics. He has been a Vice
President of the American Astronomical Society, and is currently the
President-elect of the International Astronomical Union. An avid runner
and cyclist, he is also a student of the history of polar exploration and
research. He currently resides in Baltimore with his wife, Elaine, a
pediatric psychologist whose specialty is developmental disorders and
autism.