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Charles Wilson (physicist)




He 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 Cambridge University where he became interested in Physics and Chemistry .

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 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 Ion s and Radiation . For the invention of the Cloud Chamber he received the Nobel Prize in 1927 .

He 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.

The Wilson Crater on the Moon is co-named for him, Alexander Wilson and Ralph Elmer Wilson .


REFERENCES

  • ''Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology'', Isaac Asimov, 2nd ed., Doubleday & C., Inc., ISBN 0385177712.



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