C. T. R. Wilson: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Scottish meteorologist and physicist (1869–1959)}}
{{Short description|Scottish meteorologist and particle physicist (1869–1959)}}
{{Other people|Charles Wilson}}
{{Other people|Charles Wilson}}
{{EngvarB|date=July 2016}}
{{EngvarB|date=July 2016}}
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{{Infobox scientist
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = C. T. R. Wilson
| name              = C. T. R. Wilson
| honorific_suffix  = {{Post-nominals|CH|FRS|size=100%}}
| honorific_suffix  = {{Post-nominals|FRS|size=100%}}
| image            = CTR Wilson.jpg
| image            = CTR Wilson.jpg
| caption          = Wilson in 1927
| caption          = Wilson in 1927
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* [[Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge]]
* [[Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge]]
}}
}}
| known_for        = Inventing the [[cloud chamber]] (1911)
| known_for        = Inventing the <br/> [[cloud chamber]] (1911)
| spouse            = {{Marriage|Jessie Fraser|1908}}
| spouse            = {{Marriage|Jessie Fraser|1908}}
| children          = 4
| children          = 4
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* [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] (1927)
* [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] (1927)
* [[Franklin Medal]] (1929)
* [[Franklin Medal]] (1929)
* [[Duddell Medal and Prize]] (1931)
* [[Duddell Medal and Prize|Duddell Medal and <br/> Prize]] (1931)
* [[Copley Medal]] (1935)
* [[Copley Medal]] (1935)
}}
}}
| fields            = {{Flat list|
| fields            = {{Flat list|
* [[Meteorology]]
* [[Meteorology]]
* [[physics]]
* [[particle physics]]
}}
}}
| work_institutions = [[University of Cambridge]] (1900–1934)
| work_institutions = [[University of Cambridge]] <br/> (from 1900)
| academic_advisors = [[J. J. Thomson]]
| academic_advisors = [[J. J. Thomson]]
| doctoral_students = [[C. F. Powell]] (1929)
| notable_students  = {{Plain list|
| notable_students  = [[Philip Dee]]
* [[Philip Dee]]<ref name="MGP">{{Cite web|title=Charles Wilson|url=https://www.genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=151106|website=[[Mathematics Genealogy Project]]}}</ref>
* [[C. F. Powell]]<ref name="MGP"/>
}}
{{Infobox officeholder
{{Infobox officeholder
| embed            = yes
| embed            = yes
| order            = 6th
| order            = 6th
| office            = Jacksonian Professor of Natural Philosophy
| title            = [[Jacksonian Professor of Natural Philosophy|Jacksonian Professor of <br/> Natural Philosophy]]
| term_start        = 1925
| term_start        = 1925
| term_end          = 1934
| term_end          = 1934
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}}
}}


'''Charles Thomson Rees Wilson''' (14 February 1869 – 15 November 1959) was a Scottish [[meteorologist]] and [[physicist]] who shared the 1927 [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] with [[Arthur Compton]] for his invention of the [[cloud chamber]].<ref>''Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology'', Isaac Asimov, 2nd ed., Doubleday & C., Inc., {{ISBN|0-385-17771-2}}.</ref><ref name="Nobel2">{{Cite web |url=http://www.nobel.se/physics/laureates/1927/wilson-bio.html |title=Charles Thomson Rees Wilson's biography |access-date=5 April 2004 |archive-date=3 August 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040803142232/http://www.nobel.se/physics/laureates/1927/wilson-bio.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
'''Charles Thomson Rees Wilson''' (14 February 1869 – 15 November 1959) was a Scottish [[meteorologist]] and [[particle physicist]] who shared the 1927 [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] with [[Arthur Compton]] for his invention of the [[cloud chamber]].<ref>''Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology'', Isaac Asimov, 2nd ed., Doubleday & C., Inc., {{ISBN|0-385-17771-2}}.</ref><ref name="Nobel2">{{Cite web |url=http://www.nobel.se/physics/laureates/1927/wilson-bio.html |title=Charles Thomson Rees Wilson's biography |access-date=5 April 2004 |archive-date=3 August 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040803142232/http://www.nobel.se/physics/laureates/1927/wilson-bio.html |url-status=live }}</ref>


== Education and early life==
== Education and early life==
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 [[Victoria University of Manchester|Owens College]], now the University of Manchester, with the intent of becoming a doctor. In 1887, he graduated from the college with a [[Bachelor of Science|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 Sciences (Cambridge)|Natural Science Tripos]].<ref name="ODNB">{{Cite ODNB|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/36950|title=Wilson, Charles Thomson Rees (1869–1959)|last=Longair|first=Malcolm S.|date=2006|access-date=28 January 2017|edition=Online|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/36950}}</ref><ref>{{acad|id=WL888CT|name=Wilson, Charles Thomson Rees}}</ref><ref name="Nobel Laureate">{{Cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1927/wilson-bio.html|title=C.T.R. Wilson - Biographical|website=Nobelprize.org|publisher=Nobel Media AB|access-date=28 January 2017|archive-date=27 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180727024611/https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1927/wilson-bio.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
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 [[Victoria University of Manchester|Owens College]] (now the [[University of Manchester]]) with the intent of becoming a doctor. In 1887, he graduated from the college with a [[Bachelor of Science|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 Sciences (Cambridge)|Natural Science Tripos]].<ref name="ODNB">{{Cite ODNB|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/36950|title=Wilson, Charles Thomson Rees (1869–1959)|last=Longair|first=Malcolm S.|date=2006|access-date=28 January 2017|edition=Online|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/36950}}</ref><ref>{{acad|id=WL888CT|name=Wilson, Charles Thomson Rees}}</ref><ref name="Nobel Laureate">{{Cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1927/wilson-bio.html|title=C.T.R. Wilson - Biographical|website=Nobelprize.org|publisher=Nobel Media AB|access-date=28 January 2017|archive-date=27 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180727024611/https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1927/wilson-bio.html|url-status=live}}</ref>


==Career==
==Career==
He became particularly interested in [[meteorology]], and in 1893 he began to study clouds and their properties. Beginning in 1894, he worked for some time at the [[observatory]] on [[Ben Nevis]],<ref name="Origin and context">{{Cite journal|last=Williams|first=Earle R.|date=1 August 2010|title=Origin and context of C. T. R. Wilson's ideas on electron runaway in thunderclouds|journal=Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics|language=en|volume=115|issue=A8|pages=A00E50|doi=10.1029/2009JA014581|issn=2156-2202|bibcode = 2010JGRA..115.0E50W }}</ref> where he made observations of cloud formation. He was particularly fascinated by the appearance of [[Glory (optical phenomenon)|glories]].<ref name="Brocklehurst">{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-20608377|title=Charles Thomson Rees Wilson: The man who made clouds|last=Brocklehurst|first=Steven|date=7 December 2012|work=BBC News|access-date=8 June 2017|language=en-GB|archive-date=5 December 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221205065203/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-20608377|url-status=live}}</ref> 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 became particularly interested in [[meteorology]], and in 1893 he began to study clouds and their properties. Beginning in 1894, he worked for some time at the [[observatory]] on [[Ben Nevis]],<ref name="Origin and context">{{Cite journal|last=Williams|first=Earle R.|date=1 August 2010|title=Origin and context of C. T. R. Wilson's ideas on electron runaway in thunderclouds|journal=Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics|language=en|volume=115|issue=A8|pages=A00E50|doi=10.1029/2009JA014581|issn=2156-2202|bibcode = 2010JGRA..115.0E50W }}</ref> where he made observations of cloud formation. He was particularly fascinated by the appearance of [[Glory (optical phenomenon)|glories]].<ref name="Brocklehurst">{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-20608377|title=Charles Thomson Rees Wilson: The man who made clouds|last=Brocklehurst|first=Steven|date=7 December 2012|work=BBC News|access-date=8 June 2017|language=en-GB|archive-date=5 December 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221205065203/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-20608377|url-status=live}}</ref> He then tried to reproduce this effect on a smaller scale at the [[Cavendish Laboratory]] in Cambridge, expanding humid air within a sealed container.


In 1895 he discovered that at a large enough expansion ratio supersaturated water vapour condensates even without dust which he removed by previous condensations, contrary to the previous research by [[John Aitken (meteorologist)|John Aitken]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Society |first=Cambridge Philosophical |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fPpJAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA306 |title=Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society: Mathematical and physical sciences |date=1895 |publisher=Cambridge Philosophical Society |language=en}}</ref> Under [[J. J. Thomson]]'s mentorship by 1896 he found out that [[X-ray|X-rays]] stimulate the condensation just as well as dust.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1896 |title=The effect of Röntgen's rays on cloudy condensation |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspl.1895.0101 |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society of London |volume=59 |issue=353–358 |pages=338–339 |doi=10.1098/rspl.1895.0101 |issn=0370-1662|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
In 1895, he discovered that at a large enough expansion ratio supersaturated water vapour condensates even without dust which he removed by previous condensations, contrary to the previous research by [[John Aitken (meteorologist)|John Aitken]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Society |first=Cambridge Philosophical |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fPpJAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA306 |title=Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society: Mathematical and physical sciences |date=1895 |publisher=Cambridge Philosophical Society |language=en}}</ref> Under [[J. J. Thomson]]'s mentorship by 1896, he found out that [[X-ray|X-rays]] stimulate the condensation just as well as dust.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1896 |title=The effect of Röntgen's rays on cloudy condensation |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspl.1895.0101 |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society of London |volume=59 |issue=353–358 |pages=338–339 |doi=10.1098/rspl.1895.0101 |issn=0370-1662|url-access=subscription }}</ref>


He later experimented with the creation of cloud trails in his chamber by condensation onto [[ion]]s generated by [[radioactivity]]. Several of his cloud chambers survive.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Phillipson|first=Tacye|date=December 2016|title=Surviving Apparatus Showing the Early Development of the Cloud Chamber|journal=Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society}}</ref>
He later experimented with the creation of cloud trails in his chamber by condensation onto [[ion]]s generated by [[radioactivity]]. Several of his cloud chambers survive.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Phillipson|first=Tacye|date=December 2016|title=Surviving Apparatus Showing the Early Development of the Cloud Chamber|journal=Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society}}</ref>


Wilson was made Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, and University Lecturer and Demonstrator in 1900.<ref name="Nobel2" /> He was known by some as a poor lecturer, due to a pronounced stutter,<ref name="Halliday">{{Cite journal|last=Halliday|first=E.C.|title=Some Memories of Prof. C.T.R. Wilson, English Pioneer in work on Thunderstorms and Lightning|journal=Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society|volume=51|issue=12|pages=1133–1135|doi=10.1175/1520-0477(1970)051<1133:smopct>2.0.co;2|year=1970|bibcode=1970BAMS...51.1133H|doi-access=free}}</ref> but he did teach a course on [[atmospheric electricity]] as a visiting lecturer at [[Imperial College London]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Toumi |first=Ralf |date=April 2021 |title=100 Years of meteorology at Imperial College |url=https://rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wea.3951 |journal=Weather |language=en |volume=76 |issue=4 |pages=119 |doi=10.1002/wea.3951 |bibcode=2021Wthr...76..119T |issn=0043-1656 |access-date=21 September 2023 |archive-date=19 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240919001014/https://rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wea.3951 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref>
Wilson was made Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, and University Lecturer and Demonstrator in 1900.<ref name="Nobel2" /> He was known by some as a poor lecturer, due to a pronounced stutter,<ref name="Halliday">{{Cite journal|last=Halliday|first=E.C.|title=Some Memories of Prof. C.T.R. Wilson, English Pioneer in work on Thunderstorms and Lightning|journal=Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society|volume=51|issue=12|pages=1133–1135|doi=10.1175/1520-0477(1970)051<1133:smopct>2.0.co;2|year=1970|bibcode=1970BAMS...51.1133H|doi-access=free}}</ref> but he did teach a course on [[atmospheric electricity]] as a visiting lecturer at [[Imperial College London]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Toumi |first=Ralf |date=April 2021 |title=100 Years of meteorology at Imperial College |url=https://rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wea.3951 |journal=Weather |language=en |volume=76 |issue=4 |pages=119 |doi=10.1002/wea.3951 |bibcode=2021Wthr...76..119T |issn=0043-1656 |access-date=21 September 2023 |archive-date=19 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240919001014/https://rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/wea.3951 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref> In 1918, he was appointed Reader in Electrical Meteorology, and in 1925, [[Jacksonian Professor of Natural Philosophy]].<ref name="Nobel Laureate"/>


In 1906 he hypothesized that [[cosmic radiation]] might generate the ions causing condensation without apparent reasons.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Williams |first=Earle R. |date=August 2010 |title=Origin and context of C. T. R. Wilson's ideas on electron runaway in thunderclouds |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2009ja014581 |journal=Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics |volume=115 |issue=A8 |doi=10.1029/2009ja014581 |bibcode=2010JGRA..115.0E50W |issn=0148-0227 |access-date=17 September 2024 |archive-date=19 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240919001021/https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2009JA014581 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref>
In 1906, he hypothesized that [[cosmic radiation]] might generate the ions causing condensation without apparent reasons.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Williams |first=Earle R. |date=August 2010 |title=Origin and context of C. T. R. Wilson's ideas on electron runaway in thunderclouds |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2009ja014581 |journal=Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics |volume=115 |issue=A8 |doi=10.1029/2009ja014581 |bibcode=2010JGRA..115.0E50W |issn=0148-0227 |access-date=17 September 2024 |archive-date=19 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240919001021/https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2009JA014581 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref>  


== Contributions ==
== Contributions ==
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He has been called "almost the last of the great individual experimenters in physics".<ref name="Halliday" /> He used his cloud chamber in various ways to demonstrate the operating principles of things like subatomic particles and X-rays.<ref name="Investigations" /><ref name="Making Visible" /> But his primary interest, and the subject of the bulk of his papers, was meteorology.<ref name="Gooding" />
He has been called "almost the last of the great individual experimenters in physics".<ref name="Halliday" /> He used his cloud chamber in various ways to demonstrate the operating principles of things like subatomic particles and X-rays.<ref name="Investigations" /><ref name="Making Visible" /> But his primary interest, and the subject of the bulk of his papers, was meteorology.<ref name="Gooding" />


== Awards, honours and legacy ==
== Awards, honours, and legacy ==


Wilson was elected a [[List of Fellows of the Royal Society elected in 1900|Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1900]].<ref name=frs>{{Cite journal | last1 = Blackett | first1 = P. M. S. | author-link1 = Patrick Blackett, Baron Blackett | year = 1960 | title = Charles Thomson Rees Wilson 1869–1959 | journal = [[Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society]] | volume = 6 | pages =  269–295| doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1960.0037 | s2cid = 73384198 }}</ref>
Wilson was elected a [[List of Fellows of the Royal Society elected in 1900|Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1900]].<ref name=frs>{{Cite journal | last1 = Blackett | first1 = P. M. S. | author-link1 = Patrick Blackett, Baron Blackett | year = 1960 | title = Charles Thomson Rees Wilson 1869–1959 | journal = [[Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society]] | volume = 6 | pages =  269–295| doi = 10.1098/rsbm.1960.0037 | s2cid = 73384198 }}</ref>
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For the invention of the cloud chamber he received the [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] in 1927.<ref name=Brocklehurst/><ref name="Nobel Laureate"/> He shared this prize with the American physicist [[Arthur Compton]], rewarded for his work on the particle nature of radiation.<ref name="CTR Wilson"/> Despite Wilson's great contribution to particle physics, he remained interested in atmospheric physics, specifically [[atmospheric electricity]], for his entire career.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Harrison|first=Giles|date=1 October 2011|title=The cloud chamber and CTR Wilson's legacy to atmospheric science|journal=Weather|language=en|volume=66|issue=10|pages=276–279|doi=10.1002/wea.830|issn=1477-8696|bibcode=2011Wthr...66..276H|s2cid=2428610|url=http://centaur.reading.ac.uk/24950/1/Harrison2011_CTRWilson_Weather.pdf|access-date=13 July 2019|archive-date=6 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220906023839/https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/24950/1/Harrison2011_CTRWilson_Weather.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Aplin">{{Cite journal|last=Aplin|first=Karen L.|date=1 April 2013|title=CTR Wilson – Honouring a Great Scottish Physicist|journal=Weather|language=en|volume=68|issue=4|pages=96|doi=10.1002/wea.2095|issn=1477-8696|bibcode = 2013Wthr...68...96A |doi-access=free}}</ref>
For the invention of the cloud chamber he received the [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] in 1927.<ref name=Brocklehurst/><ref name="Nobel Laureate"/> He shared this prize with the American physicist [[Arthur Compton]], rewarded for his work on the particle nature of radiation.<ref name="CTR Wilson"/> Despite Wilson's great contribution to particle physics, he remained interested in atmospheric physics, specifically [[atmospheric electricity]], for his entire career.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Harrison|first=Giles|date=1 October 2011|title=The cloud chamber and CTR Wilson's legacy to atmospheric science|journal=Weather|language=en|volume=66|issue=10|pages=276–279|doi=10.1002/wea.830|issn=1477-8696|bibcode=2011Wthr...66..276H|s2cid=2428610|url=http://centaur.reading.ac.uk/24950/1/Harrison2011_CTRWilson_Weather.pdf|access-date=13 July 2019|archive-date=6 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220906023839/https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/24950/1/Harrison2011_CTRWilson_Weather.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Aplin">{{Cite journal|last=Aplin|first=Karen L.|date=1 April 2013|title=CTR Wilson – Honouring a Great Scottish Physicist|journal=Weather|language=en|volume=68|issue=4|pages=96|doi=10.1002/wea.2095|issn=1477-8696|bibcode = 2013Wthr...68...96A |doi-access=free}}</ref>
For example, his last research paper, published in 1956 when he was in his late eighties (at that time he was the oldest FRS to publish a paper in the Royal Society's journals), was on atmospheric electricity.<ref name="Theory of Thundercloud">{{Cite journal|last=Wilson|first=C. T. R.|date=2 August 1956|title=A Theory of Thundercloud Electricity|journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society of London A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences|language=en|volume=236|issue=1206|pages=297–317|doi=10.1098/rspa.1956.0137|issn=1364-5021|bibcode = 1956RSPSA.236..297W |s2cid=98637297}}</ref>
For example, his last research paper, published in 1956 when he was in his late eighties (at that time he was the oldest FRS to publish a paper in the Royal Society's journals), was on atmospheric electricity.<ref name="Theory of Thundercloud">{{Cite journal|last=Wilson|first=C. T. R.|date=2 August 1956|title=A Theory of Thundercloud Electricity|journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society of London A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences|language=en|volume=236|issue=1206|pages=297–317|doi=10.1098/rspa.1956.0137|issn=1364-5021|bibcode = 1956RSPSA.236..297W |s2cid=98637297}}</ref>
List of other awards:
* 1911: [[Hughes Medal]]
* 1922: [[Royal Medal]]
* 1925: [[Howard N. Potts Medal]]
* 1929: [[Franklin Medal]]
* 1931: [[Duddell Medal and Prize]]
* 1935: [[Copley Medal]]


The [[Wilson (crater)|Wilson crater]] on the [[Moon]] is named after him, [[Alexander Wilson (mathematician)|Alexander Wilson]] and [[Ralph Elmer Wilson]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/6556|title=Planetary Names: Crater, craters: Wilson on Moon|website=planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov|language=en|access-date=28 January 2017|archive-date=30 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191230183542/https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/6556|url-status=live}}</ref> The Wilson Condensation Cloud formations that occur after large explosions, such as [[Effects of nuclear explosions|nuclear detonations]], are named after him.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The effects of nuclear weapons|publisher=U.S. Department of Defense|year=1977|editor-last=Glasstone|editor-first=Samuel|edition=3rd|location=Washington|pages=45|editor-last2=Dolan|editor-first2=Philip J.|hdl = 2027/uc1.31822004829784}}</ref> The Wilson Society, the scientific society of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge is named in his honour,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~sidscisoc/about/|title=About {{!}} Wilson Society|website=www.srcf.ucam.org|language=en-US|access-date=28 January 2017|archive-date=2 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202064717/http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~sidscisoc/about/|url-status=live}}</ref> as is the [https://www.ctrwiae.org/ CTR Wilson Institute for Atmospheric Electricity], the Atmospheric Electricity Special Interest Group of the [https://www.rmets.org/ Royal Meteorological Society].
The [[Wilson (crater)|Wilson crater]] on the [[Moon]] is named after him, [[Alexander Wilson (mathematician)|Alexander Wilson]] and [[Ralph Elmer Wilson]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/6556|title=Planetary Names: Crater, craters: Wilson on Moon|website=planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov|language=en|access-date=28 January 2017|archive-date=30 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191230183542/https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/6556|url-status=live}}</ref> The Wilson Condensation Cloud formations that occur after large explosions, such as [[Effects of nuclear explosions|nuclear detonations]], are named after him.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The effects of nuclear weapons|publisher=U.S. Department of Defense|year=1977|editor-last=Glasstone|editor-first=Samuel|edition=3rd|location=Washington|pages=45|editor-last2=Dolan|editor-first2=Philip J.|hdl = 2027/uc1.31822004829784}}</ref> The Wilson Society, the scientific society of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge is named in his honour,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~sidscisoc/about/|title=About {{!}} Wilson Society|website=www.srcf.ucam.org|language=en-US|access-date=28 January 2017|archive-date=2 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202064717/http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~sidscisoc/about/|url-status=live}}</ref> as is the [https://www.ctrwiae.org/ CTR Wilson Institute for Atmospheric Electricity], the Atmospheric Electricity Special Interest Group of the [https://www.rmets.org/ Royal Meteorological Society].
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{{s-aca}}
{{s-aca}}
{{s-bef |before=[[James Dewar]]}}
{{s-bef |before=[[James Dewar]]}}
{{s-ttl |title=[[Jacksonian Professor of Natural Philosophy]] |years=1875–1923}}
{{s-ttl |title=[[Jacksonian Professor of Natural Philosophy]] |years=1925–1934}}
{{s-aft |after=[[Edward Victor Appleton]]}}
{{s-aft |after=[[Edward Victor Appleton]]}}
{{s-end}}
{{s-end}}

Latest revision as of 19:59, 8 June 2025

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Charles Thomson Rees Wilson (14 February 1869 – 15 November 1959) was a Scottish meteorologist and particle physicist who shared the 1927 Nobel Prize in Physics with Arthur Compton for his invention of the cloud chamber.[1][2]

Education and early life

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.[3][4][5]

Career

He became particularly interested in meteorology, and in 1893 he began to study clouds and their properties. Beginning in 1894, he worked for some time at the observatory on Ben Nevis,[6] where he made observations of cloud formation. He was particularly fascinated by the appearance of glories.[7] He then tried to reproduce this effect on a smaller scale at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, expanding humid air within a sealed container.

In 1895, he discovered that at a large enough expansion ratio supersaturated water vapour condensates even without dust which he removed by previous condensations, contrary to the previous research by John Aitken.[8] Under J. J. Thomson's mentorship by 1896, he found out that X-rays stimulate the condensation just as well as dust.[9]

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.[10]

Wilson was made Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, and University Lecturer and Demonstrator in 1900.[2] He was known by some as a poor lecturer, due to a pronounced stutter,[11] but he did teach a course on atmospheric electricity as a visiting lecturer at Imperial College London.[12] In 1918, he was appointed Reader in Electrical Meteorology, and in 1925, Jacksonian Professor of Natural Philosophy.[5]

In 1906, he hypothesized that cosmic radiation might generate the ions causing condensation without apparent reasons.[13]

Contributions

The invention of the cloud chamber was by far Wilson's signature accomplishment, earning him the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1927.[5] The Cavendish laboratory praised him for the creation of "a novel and striking method of investigating the properties of ionized gases".[14] The cloud chamber allowed huge experimental leaps forward in the study of subatomic particles and the field of particle physics, generally. Some have credited Wilson with making the study of particles possible at all.[7]

File:Observatory Ben Nevis memorial.jpg
Commemorative plaque at Ben Nevis about the observatory there, and C.T.R. Wilson's cloud chamber

Wilson published numerous papers on meteorology and physics, on topics including X-rays,[15] ionization,[16] thundercloud formation,[17] and other meteorological events.[7] Wilson may also have observed a sprite in 1924, 65 years before their official discovery.[18] Weather was a focus of his work throughout his career, from his early observations at Ben Nevis to his final paper, on thunderclouds.[19][17]

Method

Retrospectively, Wilson's experimental method has received some attention from scholars.

In a period of scientific inquiry characterized by a divide between "analytical" and "morphological" scientists, Wilson's method of inquiry represented a hybrid. While some scientists believed phenomena should be observed in pure nature, others proposed laboratory-controlled experiments as the premier method for inquiry. Wilson used a combination of methods in his experiments and investigations.[20] Wilson's work "made things visible whose properties had only previously been deduced indirectly".[7]

He has been called "almost the last of the great individual experimenters in physics".[11] He used his cloud chamber in various ways to demonstrate the operating principles of things like subatomic particles and X-rays.[15][16] But his primary interest, and the subject of the bulk of his papers, was meteorology.[20]

Awards, honours, and legacy

Wilson was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1900.[21]

File:CTRwilsonCloudChamberCavendishLab2013-08-29-17-09-40.jpg
The original cloud chamber of C.T.R. Wilson
File:Wilson Cloud Chamber at AEC's Brookhaven National Laboratory.jpg
Wilson's Cloud Chamber at AEC's Brookhaven National Laboratory

For the invention of the cloud chamber he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1927.[7][5] He shared this prize with the American physicist Arthur Compton, rewarded for his work on the particle nature of radiation.[19] Despite Wilson's great contribution to particle physics, he remained interested in atmospheric physics, specifically atmospheric electricity, for his entire career.[22][23] For example, his last research paper, published in 1956 when he was in his late eighties (at that time he was the oldest FRS to publish a paper in the Royal Society's journals), was on atmospheric electricity.[17]

List of other awards:

The Wilson crater on the Moon is named after him, Alexander Wilson and Ralph Elmer Wilson.[24] The Wilson Condensation Cloud formations that occur after large explosions, such as nuclear detonations, are named after him.[25] The Wilson Society, the scientific society of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge is named in his honour,[26] as is the CTR Wilson Institute for Atmospheric Electricity, the Atmospheric Electricity Special Interest Group of the Royal Meteorological Society.

The archives of C.T.R. Wilson are maintained by the Archives of the University of Glasgow.[27]

in 1996, a blue plaque in Wilson's honour was installed in a specially built cairn at Flotterstone, close to his birthplace at Crosshouse Farm.[28]

In 2012, the Royal Society of Edinburgh held a meeting in honour of Wilson, the "Great Scottish Physicist".[23]

Personal life

In 1908, Wilson married Jessie Fraser, the daughter of a minister from Glasgow. The couple had four children. His family knew him as patient and curious, and fond of taking walks in the hills near his home.[18] He died at his home in Carlops on 15 November 1959, surrounded by his family.[3]

References

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External links

Template:S-acaTemplate:S-endTemplate:Copley Medallists 1901-1950Template:Nobel Prize in Physics Laureates 1926-1950Template:1927 Nobel Prize winnersTemplate:Authority control
Preceded byTemplate:S-bef/check Jacksonian Professor of Natural Philosophy
1925–1934 Template:S-ttl/check 		Template:S-aft/check Succeeded by
  1. ↑ Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology, Isaac Asimov, 2nd ed., Doubleday & C., Inc., Template:ISBN.
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  28. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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