Author, Scholar. He was a recognized scholar in Colonial America. Born the son of a minister and Harvard graduate, Reverend Warham Williams, he was usually called Reverend Samuel Williams to distinguish him from his distant cousin and Vermont politician Judge Samuel Williams. He graduated from Harvard University in 1761, became a Congregational minister, and in 1765 was appointed pastor in Bradford, Massachusetts. Williams' research established him as one of the first prominent scientists in the United States. During the Revolution, he infiltrated British lines in Maine to observe a solar eclipse, and he was the first astronomer to observe Baily's Beads, a diamond ring noted in the total and annular solar eclipse of the sun by the moon. In 1780 he became Hollis Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at Harvard, serving until resigning in 1788, following charges of financial improprieties by the Board of Overseers, which likely stemmed from a political dispute over his support for the new United States Constitution. The Overseers accused Williams of forgery in the settlement of an estate of which he had been appointed treasurer. While at Harvard, his research was primarily in astronomy, meteorology and magnetism, and he expanded Harvard's curriculum in these areas; he also lectured on a wide range of other scientific topics. He left Harvard the day the charges were made. Between 1785 and 1788, he took part in the survey that settled the New York-Massachusetts boundary. In 1789 Williams relocated to Rutland, Vermont where he preached and he and Judge Williams founded the monthly newspaper "Rutland Herald" in 1794, publishing until 1804. Later, he published the "Rural Magazine" from 1795 to 1796. In 1791 he aided in founding the University of Vermont, becoming its first lecturer on natural science and astronomy. Williams authored 1794's "Natural and Civil History of Vermont," which cemented his scholarly reputation through its coverage of Vermont's natural history, Native Americans, and settlement by Europeans. His text was published in a larger second edition in 1809. He was appointed by Governor Tichenor to survey the northern boundary of the state of Vermont in 1806. His achievements were recognized with membership in the American Philosophical Society, organizing the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, serving on various state commissions, and receiving honorary doctorates from the University of Edinburgh and Yale University.