William Park and Anna Williams Character Analysis in The Great Influenza

William Park and Anna Williams were a research team of scientists working in New York City. Park was a methodical investigator, known for being precise and careful. While Williams was also a meticulous scientist, she was more outgoing and a former stunt plane pilot. Together, they worked on isolating Pfeiffer’s bacillus (B. influenzae). While they made important progress during the pandemic, they struggled to create a cure for influenza, since it turned out that Pfeiffer’s bacillus was not the pathogen causing the influenza.

William Park and Anna Williams Character Timeline in The Great Influenza

The timeline below shows where the character William Park and Anna Williams appears in The Great Influenza. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Education, Research, and Institutions Theme Icon

William Park and Anna Williams teamed up for their research. Park was a precise, methodical scientist, while... (full context)

Park treated research like a war, investing all the lab’s resources into investigating the pathogen of... (full context)

All this pressure forced Park to abandon his most ambitious plans. He tasked Williams with finding Pfeiffer’s bacillus (B. influenzae),... (full context)

Park’s lab struggled to make an antiserum and vaccine for Pfeiffer’s bacillus. While the bacillus did... (full context)

While Park was working in New York City, Philadelphia was on the verge of collapse. Despite the... (full context)

...their research, leaving questions afterwards about how to proceed with new research. After the pandemic, Park and Williams returned to their more deliberate approach. They reached a surprising conclusion: that perhaps... (full context)

Park and Williams, along with other investigators, began to wonder whether the pandemic was caused by... (full context)

Park, Avery, and Lewis all had different work methods, but these different styles allowed each of... (full context)