Joel M Williams: Difference between revisions

Joel M. Williams
Joel M. Williams
Residence	Los Alamos, NM, United States
Nationality	USA
Alma mater	College of William & Mary (BS); Northwestern University (PhD)
Known for	Atomic Structure; MCAS electron orbital model
	Scientific career
Fields	Chemist
Institutions	Los Alamos National Laboratory; E. I. du Pont de Nemours; University of Minnesota

Latest revision as of 09:25, 17 July 2026

Joel M. Williams is an American chemist and independent researcher based in Los Alamos, New Mexico. A former staff member of Los Alamos National Laboratory, he is known within dissident-science circles for proposing the MCAS electron orbital model, an alternative particulate description of atomic and molecular electronic structure that departs from the conventional quantum-mechanical treatment of orbitals.

Biography

Williams earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry in 1962 from the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, and a PhD in physical organic chemistry in 1966 from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. He held an NIH fellowship (1963–1966) and an NSF fellowship (1966–1967).

He served briefly as an assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Minnesota (1967–1968) before joining E. I. du Pont de Nemours as a research chemist in Waynesboro, Virginia (1968–1972). From 1972 to 1993 he was a staff member at Los Alamos National Laboratory, where his research spanned sulfone and mechanistic organic chemistry, high-density graphites and composite materials, space-shuttle thermal-protection systems, cellular foams and emulsions, coal-waste and uranium-tailings characterization, oil-shale microscopy, and cosmic-dust capture. After leaving the laboratory he continued as an independent consultant through JMC Williams Consultants. Over his career he authored or coauthored roughly 80 citable publications.

Scientific contributions

Williams is the originator of the MCAS electron orbital model, which he began developing after finding conventional electronic models inadequate for explaining some of his own experimental results. MCAS is an acronym for the orbital shapes the model employs — Multilobed (tetrahedral), Cubic, Anticubic, and Square-faced cubic. In place of the spherical s-orbitals and spin-paired electron cohabitation of the standard spdf scheme, the model describes electrons as particles occupying distinct three-dimensional lobes arranged so as to minimize their mutual repulsion, and it seeks to account for atom–atom interactions without invoking orbital hybridization or spin reversal to effect pairing. Williams has extended the approach from atomic orbitals to molecules and to a reconstruction of the periodic table's electron-filling order.

The MCAS model lies outside the mainstream of accepted quantum chemistry and has not been adopted by the wider scientific community. Williams has presented it chiefly through self-published works and preprint archives rather than peer-reviewed journals.

Honors

Life Member of Sigma Xi
Listed in Marquis Who's Who

Abstracts

1999 - "Modeling the MCAS Way" (Read in full)

Books

2005 - "Challenging Science: Simple Explanations to Some Complicated Science Enigmas" (Read in full)

External links

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 | alt = Joel M. Williams
 | fields = [[Chemist]]
+| workplaces = [[Los Alamos National Laboratory]]; E. I. du Pont de Nemours; University of Minnesota
+| alma_mater = College of William & Mary (BS); Northwestern University (PhD)
 | residence = Los Alamos, NM, United States
 | nationality = USA
-| known_for = [[Atomic Structure]]
+| known_for = [[Atomic Structure]]; MCAS electron orbital model
 }}
-I have spent over 50 years building, remodeling, and painting houses and packing boxes. From these activities, I have marveled at the beautiful 3-D symmetry created by craftsmen and nature and its aesthetic appeal to artists. I have also spent 45 years mentally and physically manipulating chemical compounds and atoms. Much of this time has been spent on models generated by others - many of whom have received Nobel prizes for their efforts.
+'''Joel M. Williams''' is an American [[Chemist|chemist]] and independent researcher based in Los Alamos, New Mexico. A former staff member of [[Los Alamos National Laboratory]], he is known within dissident-science circles for proposing the '''MCAS''' electron orbital model, an alternative particulate description of atomic and molecular electronic structure that departs from the conventional quantum-mechanical treatment of orbitals.
-In recent years, I have wondered about some of the models engendered by those fabled masters. What I have found is that some, beautiful as they may be, are inherently limited. They are limited because they fail to accommodate 3-D components that can not be rendered from 2-D. The masters have decreed that things are different at the atomic level even though this level formulates the substances of our real world! This is a stretch of faith that I no longer accept.
+==Biography==
-Finding the accepted electronic models unsatisfactory in explaining some of my own experimental results, I set out a decade ago to find a model that would explain them while remaining consistent with previous data. To do so, I had to think outside the ?box? created by the legends of science. My 3-D approach has allowed me to see atoms from a different vantage point - a vantage point that has gone unexplored since those mavens accepted OR-duality and electron spin-reversal to justify homophilic cohabitation of orbital space by electron pairs.
+Williams earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry in 1962 from the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, and a PhD in physical organic chemistry in 1966 from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. He held an NIH fellowship (1963–1966) and an NSF fellowship (1966–1967).
-* PhD, physical organic chemistry, Northwestern U.
+He served briefly as an assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Minnesota (1967–1968) before joining E. I. du Pont de Nemours as a research chemist in Waynesboro, Virginia (1968–1972). From 1972 to 1993 he was a staff member at Los Alamos National Laboratory, where his research spanned sulfone and mechanistic organic chemistry, high-density graphites and composite materials, space-shuttle thermal-protection systems, cellular foams and emulsions, coal-waste and uranium-tailings characterization, oil-shale microscopy, and cosmic-dust capture. After leaving the laboratory he continued as an independent consultant through JMC Williams Consultants. Over his career he authored or coauthored roughly 80 citable publications.
+==Scientific contributions==
+Williams is the originator of the MCAS electron orbital model, which he began developing after finding conventional electronic models inadequate for explaining some of his own experimental results. MCAS is an acronym for the orbital shapes the model employs — Multilobed (tetrahedral), Cubic, Anticubic, and Square-faced cubic. In place of the spherical s-orbitals and spin-paired electron cohabitation of the standard spdf scheme, the model describes electrons as particles occupying distinct three-dimensional lobes arranged so as to minimize their mutual repulsion, and it seeks to account for atom–atom interactions without invoking orbital hybridization or spin reversal to effect pairing. Williams has extended the approach from atomic orbitals to molecules and to a reconstruction of the periodic table's electron-filling order.
+The MCAS model lies outside the mainstream of accepted quantum chemistry and has not been adopted by the wider scientific community. Williams has presented it chiefly through self-published works and preprint archives rather than peer-reviewed journals.
+==Honors==
+* Life Member of Sigma Xi
+* Listed in ''Marquis Who's Who''
 ==Abstracts==
@@ Line 24: / Line 37: @@
 * 2005 - "[[Challenging Science: Simple Explanations to Some Complicated Science Enigmas]]" ([http://www.amazon.com/Challenging-Science-Joel-M-Williams/dp/1420842382/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247244965&sr=8-1 Read in full])
-[[Category:Scientist]]
+==External links==
+* [http://pages.swcp.com/~jmw-mcw/science Joel M. Williams – Modeling the MCAS Way]
+* [https://www.amazon.com/Joel-M-Williams/e/B00PR9CTHG Joel M. Williams author page at Amazon]
+* [https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/9902046 "Modeling the MCAS Way" at arXiv]
+[[Category:Scientist|Williams Joel]]