Charles Thomson Rees Wilson
Charles Thomson Rees Wilson (February 14, 1869 – November 15, 1959) was a Scottish physicist and meteorologist. His invention of the cloud chamber made him win the 1927 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Charles Thomson Rees Wilson | |
|---|---|
 Solvay Conference 1927. | |
| Born | Charles Thomson Rees Wilson 14 February 1869 |
| Died | 15 November 1959 (aged 90) |
| Nationality | Scotland |
| Alma mater | University of Manchester University of Cambridge |
| Known for | Cloud chamber |
| Awards | Howard N. Potts Medal (1925) Nobel Prize in Physics 1927 Franklin Medal 1929 |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics |
| Institutions | University of Cambridge |
| Academic advisors | J. J. Thomson |
| Doctoral students | Cecil Frank Powell |
Biography
Wilson was born to John Wilson and Annie Clerk Harper in the parish of Glencorse, Midlothian. After his father's death in 1873, his family moved to Manchester. He studied biology at Owen's College to become a doctor. He then joined Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge to study Physics and Chemistry.
Wilson later became interested in meteorology, and in 1893 he began to study clouds and their properties. He worked at the observatory on Ben Nevis mountain to observe cloud formation. He then tried to replicate this effect at smaller scale in his laboratory in Cambridge, by causing moist air to expand in a sealed container. He then experimented with creating cloud trails in containers by ions and radiation. He was awarded the 1927 Nobel Prize in Physics for his invention of the cloud chamber.
Personal life
Wilson married Jessie Fraser in 1908. They had four children. He died on November 15, 1959 near Edinburgh.
Awards and Honors
- Member of the Royal Society in 1900
- Hughes Medal of 1911
- Hopkins Prize, Cambridge Philosophical Society, 1920
- Gunning Prize, Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1921
- Royal Medal of the Royal Society of London, 1922
- Howard N. Potts Medal 1925
- 1927 Nobel Prize in Physics
- The Franklin Medal of 1929
- Copley Medal 1935.
- The Wilson crater on the Moon is named after him, jointly with Alexander Wilson and Ralph Elmer Wilson.
- The Wilson Cloud, a dense cloud that forms during a large explosion (e.g. a nuclear weapon explosion) is named after him.
- The Wilson Society, an association of natural scientists at Sidney Sussex College, is named after him.
- Charles Thomson Rees Wilson's personal archive is maintained by the Archives of the University of Glasgow (GUAS)
Charles Thomson Rees Wilson Media
Commemorative plaque at Ben Nevis about the observatory there, and C.T.R. Wilson's cloud chamber
The original cloud chamber of C.T.R. Wilson
Wilson's Cloud Chamber at AEC's Brookhaven National Laboratory
