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{{Short description|American astronomer}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Olin Chaddock Wilson
| image = 
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| birth_date = {{birth date |1909|01|13}}
| birth_place = [[San Francisco, California]]
| death_date = {{death date and age |1994|07|14 |1909|01|13}}
| death_place = [[West Lafayette, Indiana]]
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| fields = Astronomy
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| education = Ph.D. (1934)
| alma_mater = [[California Institute of Technology]]
| thesis_title = Comparison of the Balmer and Paschen Series of Hydrogen in Stellar Spectra
| thesis_url = https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1934ApJ....80...19M/abstract
| thesis_year = 1934
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| known_for = [[Astronomical spectroscopy|Stellar spectroscopy]]
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| awards = [[Bruce Medal]] (1984)
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| spouse = Katherine E. Johnson (m. 1943)
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| children = Nicole, Randall
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'''Olin Chaddock Wilson''' (January 13, 1909 – July 13, 1994) was an American [[astronomer]] best known for his work as a stellar [[spectroscopy|spectroscopist]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sciences |first=National Academy of |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ByjTLa2HF1kC |title=Biographical Memoirs: Volume 82 |date=2003-05-07 |publisher=National Academies Press |isbn=978-0-309-08698-1 |pages=353–370 |language=en}}</ref>

Born in San Francisco, California as the son of a lawyer, Wilson showed an interest in physics at an early age. He studied astronomy and physics at the [[University of California, Berkeley]] and wrote his first scientific paper in 1932 on the subject of the [[speed of light]]. He received his [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]] from the [[California Institute of Technology]] in 1934.

Wilson was a staff member of [[Mount Wilson Observatory]] (not named after Olin Wilson) for most of his research career where he studied [[star|stellar]] [[chromosphere]]s. He was the first scientist to discover activity cycles, similar to the [[sun|solar]] 11-year [[sunspot]] cycle, in other stars. In collaboration with [[Vainu Bappu]], an Indian astronomer, he also showed that there was a correlation between the width of the Ca II lines in stellar [[spectrum|spectra]] and the star's [[luminosity]], the [[Wilson–Bappu effect]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ridpath |first=Ian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O31j9UJ3U4oC |title=A Dictionary of Astronomy |date=2012-01-19 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-960905-5 |pages=510 |language=en}}</ref>

He gave the [[Henry Norris Russell Lectureship]] in 1977 and won the [[Bruce Medal]] in 1984.<ref name=Preston_1995/>

== References ==
{{Reflist|refs=

<ref name=Preston_1995>{{cite journal
| title=Olin C. Wilson (1909-1994)
| first=George W. | last=Preston
| journal=Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
| volume=107 | issue=708 | year=1995
| page=97 | doi=10.1086/133523 | bibcode=1995PASP..107...97P | s2cid=121127702 | doi-access=free }}</ref>

}}

==External links==
* [http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/wilson-olin.pdf National Academy of Sciences biography]

{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Olin}}
[[Category:1909 births]]
[[Category:1994 deaths]]
[[Category:American astronomers]]

{{US-astronomer-stub}}

Olin Chaddock Wilson - Revision history

imported>Tom.Reding: WP:STUBSPACING followup