Williams’ early research was in elementary particle physics, then during her second postdoctoral position she started working in classical general relativity. Eventually, she combined these two interests by working in quantum gravity in an attempt to find a unified theory of quantum mechanics and general relativity. Her particular approach, called Regge calculus, is a version of discrete gravity where curved space-times are approximated by collections of flat simplices. This may be thought of as a generalisation of geodesic domes to higher dimensions. Williams’ work on Regge calculus includes the classical evolution of model universes, and numerical simulations of discrete quantum gravity, together with investigations of the relationship between Regge calculus and the continuum theory. She has written around 100 papers on her research.
