Charles Thomson Rees Wilson

Charles Wilson
File:CTR Wilson.jpg Wilson in 1927
Born	Charles Thomson Rees Wilson (1869-02-14)14 February 1869 Midlothian, Scotland
Died	Edinburgh, Scotland
Nationality	Scottish
Fields	Physics
Institutions	University of Cambridge
Alma mater	University of Manchester University of Cambridge
Academic advisors	J. J. Thomson
Doctoral students	Cecil Frank Powell
Known for	Cloud chamber
Notable awards	Royal Medal (1922) Howard N. Potts Medal (1925) FRS (1900) Nobel Prize in Physics (1927) Franklin Medal (1929) Duddell Medal and Prize (1931)

Charles Thomson Rees Wilson, CH, FRS (14 February 1869 – 15 November 1959) was a Scottish physicist and meteorologist who received the Nobel Prize in physics for his invention of the cloud chamber.

Education and early life

Wilson was born in the parish of Glencorse, Midlothian to a farmer, John Wilson, and his mother Annie Clerk Harper. After his father died in 1873, his family moved to Manchester. He was educated at Owen's College, studying biology with the intent to become a physician. He then went to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge where he became interested in physics and chemistry.

Career

Wilson thereafter became particularly interested in meteorology, and in 1893 he began to study clouds and their properties. He worked for some time at the observatory on Ben Nevis, where he made observations of cloud formation. He then tried to reproduce this effect on a smaller scale in the laboratory in Cambridge, expanding humid air within a sealed container. He later experimented with the creation of cloud trails in his chamber caused by ions and radiation. For the invention of the cloud chamber he received the Nobel Prize in 1927.

Awards and honors

Wilson was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1900.

The crater Wilson on the Moon is co-named for him, Alexander Wilson and Ralph Elmer Wilson. The Wilson Condensation Cloud formations, occurring after a very large explosion, are named after him. The Wilson Society, is also named for him.

The archives of Charles Thomson Rees Wilson are maintained by the Archives of the University of Glasgow.

Personal life

Wilson married Jessie Fraser in 1908, the daughter of a minister from Glasgow, and the couple had four children. He died near Edinburgh, surrounded by his family.