Charles T. R. Wilson
| Charles Thomson Rees Wilson | |
|---|---|
Wilson in 1927
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| Born | Charles Thomson Rees Wilson 14 February 1868 Glencorse, Scotland |
| Died | 15 November 1959 (aged 90) Carlops, Scotland |
| Nationality | Scottish |
| Fields | Physics |
| Institutions | Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge |
| Alma mater |
Owens College Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge |
| Academic advisors | J. J. Thomson |
| Doctoral students | Cecil Frank Powell |
| Known for | Cloud chamber |
| Notable awards |
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Charles Thomson Rees Wilson, CH, FRS (14 February 1869 – 15 November 1959) was a Scottish physicist and meteorologist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his invention of the cloud chamber.
Wilson was born in the parish of Glencorse, Midlothian to Annie Clark Harper and John Wilson, a sheep farmer. After his father died in 1873, he moved with his family to Manchester. With financial support from his step-brother he studied biology at Owens College, now the University of Manchester, with the intent of becoming a doctor. In 1887, he graduated from the College with a BSc. He won a scholarship to attend Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge where he became interested in physics and chemistry. In 1892 he received 1st class honours in both parts of the Natural Science Tripos.
Wilson was made Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, and University Lecturer and Demonstrator in 1900. He 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 at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, expanding humid air within a sealed container. He later experimented with the creation of cloud trails in his chamber by condensation onto ions generated by radioactivity. Several of his cloud chambers survive.
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