Robert Wilson (astronomer)

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Sir Robert Wilson , CBE (born April 16, 1927 in South Shields , Durham , † September 2, 2002 in Chelmsford , Essex ) was a British astronomer.

Life

He studied physics at Kings College, Durham and received his PhD in Edinburgh , where he worked at the Royal Observatory. He was one of the pioneers who helped develop modern telescopes such as the Hubble space telescope . In 1959 Wilson joined the Plasma Spectroscopy Group at Harwell and later became head of the Plasma Spectroscopy Group at Culham, where he conducted a program of observations of UV spectra. With telescopes on rockets and satellites, it was possible to avoid the absorption of UV light by the Earth's atmosphere and to obtain a large part of the information about the hot plasmas, especially in the sun's chromosphere and corona.

Wilson was involved in the European Space Research Organization with the first astronomy satellite of the TD-1A mission and was considered the "father" of the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) satellite . 1972 resigned his office as director of the Science Research Council of the Astrophysics Research Unit in Culham and became professor of astronomy at University College London. He lectured Darwin at the Royal Astronomical Society in 1985 and was promoted to Knight Bachelor in 1989. In 1996 he was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society .

In 1991 the asteroid (2465) Wilson was named after him.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.ucl.ac.uk/phys/about/people/wilsob
  2. ^ Member History: Sir Robert Wilson. American Philosophical Society, accessed November 18, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Minor Planet Circ. 18448
personal data
SURNAME Wilson, Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British astronomer
DATE OF BIRTH April 16, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH South Shields
DATE OF DEATH September 2, 2002
Place of death Chelmsford