Antony Williams was born in St Asaph, Wales, June 1964 to Ernest Edward Williams, owner of a building contracting firm, and Eirlys Elizabeth Williams. He has one older sister, Rae. He grew up in a small village near Caerwys.
Williams earned his Ph.D. in chemistry, funded by Royal Dutch Shell, from Royal Holloway, University of London in 1988 and wrote a thesis entitled "High pressure NMR and relaxation studies of alkyl chain systems".[12] He won the Bourne Medal from the University of London for this work and developed a unifying theory for modeling NMR relaxation data to examine the molecular motions of alkyl chains.[13] He also used the Cobalt-59 NMR chemical shift for cobalt (III) hexacyanide as both a temperature and pressure probe.[14] During his PhD he developed an interest in personal computers and wrote software programs to fit NMR relaxation data.
In 1991, Williams joined Ottawa University as their NMR Facility Manager. He continued his personal interests in multinuclear NMR to perform 2D-NMR experiments examining Selenium exchange in mixed-halogen systems.[15] He also performed Silicon-29 and Tellurium-125 NMR studies.
In 1992 Williams left Canada for Rochester, NY to work for the Eastman Kodak Company as their NMR Technology Leader. At Kodak he used his previous experience in studying alkyl chain related systems to study micelles.[16] He was involved in the early adoption of Liquid Chromatography-NMR into the company and in the development of an Open Access laboratory for chemists to use roboticized analytical instrumentation to generate data. At Kodak he was part of a three-member team that developed a web-based Laboratory information management system (LIMS) system called WIMS,[17] the Web-based Information Management System and it was the first web-based LIMS system in the world to manage chemical structures and spectral data. He was granted two patents while at Kodak,[18][19]
In 1997 he started work for a Canadian start-up company, Advanced Chemistry Development (ACD/Labs) as their senior product manager. He was responsible for managing all spectroscopy, structure drawing and IUPAC nomenclature,[20][21] products. While in that role the analytical data management software was expanded to include support for mass spectrometry, infrared spectroscopy, UV-Vis spectroscopy, chromatography and other forms of analytical sciences. His research interests at that time include the development of algorithms for NMR prediction ([22] and[23]) and, specifically, development of software approaches to Computer Assisted structure Elucidation, so-called CASE systems.[24][25][26][27][28][29] The CASE tools have been used for the purpose of structure revision whereby algorithms have been demonstrated to outperform human interpretation of spectral data.[30]
While at ACD/Labs Williams was involved in a number of industry firsts[citation needed] including
producing a chemical dictionary on a Palm Computer and Pocket PC,[31]
the introduction of fuzzy-logic based approaches to computer-assisted structure elucidation and 4) Approaches for automated structure verification.[36]
While at the company he initiated a hobby project to link together chemistry databases on the web. This project was called ChemSpider. ChemSpider was formally announced at the Chicago ACS meeting in March 2007 with a database containing over 10 million compounds sourced from PubChem.
In 2007 when he left ACD/Labs he was the Chief Science Officer. He became an independent consultant working with a number of software companies in the cheminformatics domain, such as SimBioSys, and with research organizations to support their cheminformatics efforts. In parallel he continued to develop the ChemSpider platform with a small group of like-minded individuals interested in the development of web-based systems to serve chemists[37][38] The site is a crowdsourced community for chemistry with chemists depositing their structure collections, spectral data and molecular properties. Williams is focused on educating the community as to the issues of data quality associated with internet chemistry databases.[39][40]
In May 2009 the Royal Society of Chemistry announced that it had acquired ChemSpider.[41] Williams joined RSC as their Vice President of Strategic Development for ChemSpider.
Williams has contributed to the world of "Mobile Chemistry"[44] by contributing to the development of ChemMobi, an iPhone app for accessing millions of chemical compounds and associated data.
Williams introduced an Open Access journal, the ChemSpider Journal of Chemistry, and the development team provided novel online markup technology (ChemMANTIS – Markup And Nomenclature Transformation Integrated System) to allow crowdsourced markup of chemistry related terms linked up, where possible, to the ChemSpider database. Williams is a judge for the Open Notebook Science Challenge. He promotes the use of Open Data, particularly spectral data, publishes in Open Access journals and is an advocate for Open Notebook Science.[46] Williams is an advocate for freeing pre-clinical data from the pharmaceutical industry on the internet.[47][48][49] Williams has worked closely with Sean Ekins to advocate the release of pre-competitive pharmaceutical data to the community. He has also participated in the analysis and review of open pharmaceutical data released to the community.[50][51][52]
Williams, himself a longtime contributor to Wikipedia has been vocal in questioning the notability requirements of Wikipedia itself, comparing pornstars and scientists.[53][54]
Awards and honors
Williams was the winner of the Jim Graye-Science award in 2012 [55] and the North Carolina American Chemical Society Distinguished Speaker of the Year Award in 2016.[56]
^Staff. "2014-BIT-Brochure"(PDF). 2014 Bio-IT World Expo. Cambridge Healthtech Institute. pp. 3 (col 2). Retrieved 15 June 2016. Antony Williams, Ph.D., Vice President, Strategic Development; Head, Cheminformatics for the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
^Bratt, P. J.; Gillies, D. G.; Sutcliffe, L. H.; Williams, A. J. (1990). "NMR relaxation studies of internal motions: A comparison between micelles and related systems". The Journal of Physical Chemistry. 94 (7): 2727. doi:10.1021/j100370a001.
^Gillies, D. G.; Sutcliffe, L. H.; Williams, A. J. (2002). "Variable-temperature high-pressure investigation of the cobalt-59 NMR spectroscopy of aqueous K3\Co(CN)6]". Magnetic Resonance in Chemistry. 40: 57–64. doi:10.1002/mrc.955. S2CID98518973.
^Milne, J.; Williams, A. J. (1992). "Exchange processes in diselenium and selenium-sulfur dihalides, Se2X2 and SeSX2 (X = Br, Cl). A selenium-77 2D-EXSY study". Inorganic Chemistry. 31 (22): 4534. doi:10.1021/ic00048a018.
^Antalek, B.; Williams, A. J.; Garcia, E.; Texter, J. (1994). "NMR Analysis of Interfacial Structure Transitions Accompanying Electron-Transfer Threshold Transition in Reverse Microemulsions". Langmuir. 10 (12): 4459. doi:10.1021/la00024a014.
^Brown, D.; Williams, A.; McLaughlin, D. (1997). "Web-based information management system". TrAC Trends in Analytical Chemistry. 16 (7): 370. doi:10.1016/S0165-9936(97)00046-0.
^Williams, A. (2000). "Recent advances in NMR prediction and automated structure elucidation software". Current Opinion in Drug Discovery & Development. 3 (3): 298–305. PMID19649862.
^Blinov, K. A.; Smurnyy, Y. D.; Elyashberg, M. E.; Churanova, T. S.; Kvasha, M.; Steinbeck, C.; Lefebvre, B. A.; Williams, A. J. (2008). "Performance Validation of Neural Network Based13C NMR Prediction Using a Publicly Available Data Source". Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling. 48 (3): 550–555. doi:10.1021/ci700363r. PMID18293952.
^Elyashberg, M. E.; Blinov, K. A.; Molodtsov, S. G.; Williams, A. J.; Martin, G. E. (2007). "Fuzzy Structure Generation: A New Efficient Tool for Computer-Aided Structure Elucidation (CASE)". Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling. 47 (3): 1053–1066. doi:10.1021/ci600528g. PMID17385849.
^Elyashberg, M. E.; Williams, A. J.; Martin, G. E. (2008). "Computer-assisted structure verification and elucidation tools in NMR-based structure elucidation". Progress in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy. 53 (1–2): 1–104. doi:10.1016/j.pnmrs.2007.04.003.
^Smurnyy, Y. D.; Elyashberg, M. E.; Blinov, K. A.; Lefebvre, B. A.; Martin, G. E.; Williams, A. J. (2005). "Computer-aided determination of relative stereochemistry and 3D models of complex organic molecules from 2D NMR spectra". Tetrahedron. 61 (42): 9980. doi:10.1016/j.tet.2005.08.022.
^Martin, G. E.; Hadden, C. E.; Russell, D. J.; Kaluzny, B. D.; Guido, J. E.; Duholke, W. K.; Stiemsma, B. A.; Thamann, T. J.; Crouch, R. C.; Blinov, K.; Elyashberg, M.; Martirosian, E. R.; Molodtsov, S. G.; Williams, A. J.; Schiff, P. L. (2002). "Identification of degradants of a complex alkaloid using NMR cryoprobe technology and ACD/structure elucidator". Journal of Heterocyclic Chemistry. 39 (6): 1241. doi:10.1002/jhet.5570390619.
^Elyashberg, M. E.; Blinov, K. A.; Martirosian, E. R.; Molodtsov, S. G.; Williams, A. J.; Martin, G. E. (2003). "Automated structure elucidation - the benefits of a symbiotic relationship between the spectroscopist and the expert system". Journal of Heterocyclic Chemistry. 40 (6): 1017. doi:10.1002/jhet.5570400610.
^Blinov, K. A.; Larin, N. I.; Kvasha, M. P.; Moser, A.; Williams, A. J.; Martin, G. E. (2005). "Analysis and elimination of artifacts in indirect covariance NMR spectra via unsymmetrical processing". Magnetic Resonance in Chemistry. 43 (12): 999–1007. doi:10.1002/mrc.1674. PMID16144032. S2CID26808858.
^Blinov, K. A.; Williams, A. J.; Hilton, B. D.; Irish, P. A.; Martin, G. E. (2007). "The use of unsymmetrical indirect covariance NMR methods to obtain the equivalent of HSQC-NOESY data". Magnetic Resonance in Chemistry. 45 (7): 544–546. doi:10.1002/mrc.1998. PMID17437315. S2CID46106410.
^Martin, G. E.; Irish, P. A.; Hilton, B. D.; Blinov, K. A.; Williams, A. J. (2007). "Utilizing unsymmetrical indirect covariance processing to define15N-13C connectivity networks". Magnetic Resonance in Chemistry. 45 (8): 624–627. doi:10.1002/mrc.2029. PMID17563910. S2CID34281811.
^Golotvin, S. S.; Vodopianov, E.; Pol, R.; Lefebvre, B. A.; Williams, A. J.; Rutkowske, R. D.; Spitzer, T. D. (2007). "Automated structure verification based on a combination of 1D1H NMR and 2D1H-13C HSQC spectra". Magnetic Resonance in Chemistry. 45 (10): 803–813. doi:10.1002/mrc.2034. PMID17694570. S2CID25476827.
^Pence, H. E.; Williams, A. (2010). "ChemSpider: An Online Chemical Information Resource". Journal of Chemical Education. 87 (11): 1123. Bibcode:2010JChEd..87.1123P. doi:10.1021/ed100697w.
^Public Compound Databases – How ChemSpider changed the rules making molecules on the web free, Antony J. Williams in Collaborative Computational Technologies for the Life Sciences, Edited by Sean Ekins, Maggie A.Z. Hupcey and Antony J. Williams, Submitted for Publication to Wiley
^Williams, A. (2008). "A perspective of publicly accessible/open-access chemistry databases". Drug Discovery Today. 13 (11–12): 495–501. doi:10.1016/j.drudis.2008.03.017. PMID18549975.
^Williams, A. J.; Ekins, S. (2011). "A quality alert and call for improved curation of public chemistry databases". Drug Discovery Today. 16 (17–18): 747–750. doi:10.1016/j.drudis.2011.07.007. PMID21871970.
^"to fulfill its strategic objective of disseminating knowledge to the chemical community and advancing the chemical sciences"
^McEachran, A. D.; Sobus, J. R.; Williams, A. J. (2017). "Identifying known unknowns using the US EPA's CompTox Chemistry Dashboard". Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry. 409 (7): 1729–1735. doi:10.1007/s00216-016-0139-z. PMID27987027. S2CID31754962.
^A.J. Williams, V. Tkachenko, C. Lipinski, A. Tropsha and S. Ekins, Free Online Resources Enabling Crowdsourced, Drug Discovery World Winter 2009/10, 33-39
^Ekins, S.; Williams, A. J. (2010). "When pharmaceutical companies publish large datasets: An abundance of riches or fool's gold?". Drug Discovery Today. 15 (19–20): 812–815. doi:10.1016/j.drudis.2010.08.010. PMID20732447.
^Ekins, S.; Williams, A. J. (2010). "When pharmaceutical companies publish large datasets: An abundance of riches or fool's gold?". Drug Discovery Today. 15 (19–20): 812–815. doi:10.1016/j.drudis.2010.08.010. PMID20732447.