Charles
T. R. Wilson
1869 - 1959
Charles
T.R. Wilson was the eighth child of a sheep farmer at Glencorse
in the Pentland Hills near Edinburgh. His father died when he
was 4, and whole family moved to Manchester to be nearer the grandparents.
Charles was sent to school by his older brothers, but no science
was taught. He collected beetles and pond life with his brother,
and was given a microsope when he was 13 - this was the start
of his scientific career. He studied as a medical student at Manchester
in 1884, then as a physicist at Cambridge.
The cloud chamber was invented by: Charles T R Wilson in 1896.
The cloud chamber was a method of tracking alpha-particles and
electrons which allowed the movement of atoms to be recorded on
film. This was Charles T R Wilsons greatest achievement, winning
him the Nobel prize for Physics in 1927.
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