Born: 4 July 1884, Australia
Died: 1963
Country most active: Australia
Also known as: Fanny or Fannie Eleanor Williams
This biography has been shared from The Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation, published by the Centre for Transformative Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology, under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Fannie Williams, known as Eleanor Williams, was one of the first three staff members of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI). She co-authored and authored more than fifty publications in her career and specialised in research on dysentery, influenza and snake venom. Williams was responsible for the training of staff and later the general organisation of WEHI.
Williams trained as a nurse at Adelaide Children’s Hospital, and began her bacteriology and serology career in the pathology department of the Adelaide Children’s Hospital, followed by the Adelaide Hospital. War service with AIF at pathology laboratory, 3 Australian General Hospital, Lemnos, 1915, Lister Institute London, 1917, awarded Associate Royal Red Cross (ARRC) 1917, 25 British Stationary Hospital France 1918. Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne 1920-1957. She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1957.