Raymond Wilson
Raymond Neil Wilson (born March 23, 1928 in Sutton Coldfield , † March 16, 2018 in Rohrbach ) was a British physicist , known for his designs of optical systems for large telescopes.
Wilson studied physics at the University of Birmingham and engineering at Imperial College London . For 11 years, he headed the design department for telescopes at Carl Zeiss AG in Oberkochen . From 1972 to 1993 he headed the optics and telescope group of the European Southern Observatory ESO . He developed the concept of active optics for large telescopes, in which instead of an extremely heavy primary mirror, which is dimensionally stable under all conditions, a lighter primary mirror is used, the shape of which is actively regulated towards the target in different positions of the telescope. This technology was used for the first time at ESO's New Technology Telescope , it was decisive for the concept of ESO's Very Large Telescope .
After his retirement in 1993, Wilson wrote a two-volume monograph on reflector telescope optics and expanded his designs from telescope optics to systems with three to five mirrors, such as those discussed for future extremely large telescopes.
Publications (selection)
- Raymond N. Wilson: Reflecting Telescope Optics I. Basic Design Theory and its Historical Development , Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York 1996, ISBN 3-540-58964-3
- Raymond N. Wilson: Reflecting Telescope Optics II. Manufacture, Testing, Alignment, Modern Techniques , Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York 1999, ISBN 3-540-60356-5
Awards
- 1993 Karl Schwarzschild Medal
- 1993 namesake for the asteroid (3790) Raywilson
- 2003 Knight of the French Legion of Honor
- 2005 Prix Lallemand of the French Academy of Sciences
- 2010 Kavli Prize
- 2010 Tycho Brahe Prize from the European Astronomical Society
- 2011 honorary citizen of Rohrbach (Ilm)
- Foreign member of the Norwegian Academy of Sciences
Web links
- Biographical information on the Kavli Prize
- Biographical information on the Brahe Prize (PDF; 1.1 MB)
- ESO Messenger (PDF; 1.0 MB)
- Literature by and about Raymond Wilson in the catalog of the German National Library
Individual evidence
- ↑ Obituary notice. In: donaukurier.de. Retrieved March 17, 2018 .
- ^ Mourning the Rohrbach astrophysicist Raymond Wilson . In: donaukurier.de . ( donaukurier.de [accessed on March 19, 2018]).
- ↑ Minor Planet Circ. 22499
- ↑ New honorary citizen in Rohrbach. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Pfaffenhofener Kurier , May 2011, accessed on November 1, 2017
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Wilson, Raymond |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Wilson, Raymond N. |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British physicist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 23, 1928 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Sutton Coldfield |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 16, 2018 |
| Place of death | Rohrbach (Ilm) |