Henry Shaler Williams

Henry Shaler Williams (March 6, 1847 – July 31, 1918) was an American academic and paleontologist. He was a professor at Cornell University and Yale University. Williams is credited with naming the Mississippian and Pennsylvanian sub-periods. He was a founder the Geological Society of America and Sigma Xi honor society.

Early life Williams was born in Ithaca, New York on March 6, 1847. He was the son of Mary Huggeford Hardy and Josiah B. Williams, a member of the New York State Senate who had numerous businesses in Ithaca, including a bank, cotton mills, iron fabrication, lumber, machinery, and a mercantile. His uncle, Timothy S. Williams, was also a member of the New York State Senate; lumber magnate Henry W. Sage was his first cousin. His mother was a member of the Shaler family who arrived to America on the Mayflower. He graduated from Yale's Sheffield Scientific School in 1868. He then received a Ph.B. from Yale University in 1871, specializing in zoology. His thesis was on the muscular system of turtles.

He became an assistant professor of geology at Cornell University in 1879. After retiring from academia, Williams worked on establishing oilfields on his son's property in Cuba from 1916 until he died in 1918.

Williams was a founder and leader of Sigma Xi honor society for science and engineering in 1886.

Williams died in Havana, Cuba of pleurisy on July 31, 1918, at the age of 71 years. He was buried in the Ithaca City Cemetery.

Selected publications Anatomy of the Domestic Cat. New York: G. P. Putnam's Son,1875. "The Cuboides Zone and Its Fauna; a Discussion of the Methods of Correlation". Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, vol. 1 (May 7, 1890), 481–500. "Correlation Papers – Devonian and Carboniferous" Bulletin of the United States Geological Survey, no. 80 (1891). "Dual Nomenclature in Geological Classification". The Journal of Geology, vol. 2, no. 2 (1894), 145–160. A Geological Biology: An Introduction to the Geological History of Organisms. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1895. "One the Theory of Organic Variation". Science New Series, vol. 6, no. 133 (July 16, 1897), pp. 73–85 "On the genetic energy of organisms. A paper read before the American Society of Naturalists, December 24, 1897." Science New Series, vol. 7, no. 178 (May 27, 1898), pp. 721–730. "Fossil Faunas and Their Use in Correlating Geological Formations". American Journal of Science, vol. 163 (June 1, 1902), pp. 417–432. "Shifting of Faunas as a Problem of Stratigraphic Geology". Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, no. 14 (January 1, 1903), pp. 177–190. "Contributions to Devonian paleontology, 1903". with Edward M. Kindle. United States Geological Survey Bulletin, no. 244, series C (1903). "A new brachiopod, Rensselaeria mainensis, from the Devonian of Maine". Proceedings of the United States National Museum, vol. 32, no. 1527 (April 18, 1907), pp. 267–269. "Recurrent Tropidoleptus Zones of the Upper Devonian in New York". United States Geological Survey Professional Papers, vol. 79 and 80 (1913). "New brachiopods of the genus Spirifer from the Silurian of Maine". Proceedings of the United States National Museum, vol. 51, no. 2144 (December 16, 1916), pp. 73–80.