Profile
C.T.R. Wilson: Inventor of the Cloud Chamber
Scottish physicist, 1869-1959
Charles Thomson Rees Wilson was born in Glencorse on 14 February 1869.
He invented the cloud chamber for tracking particles.
He shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1927.
He worked at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge.
Career highlights
- 1894Ben Nevis: studies clouds at the summit
- 1895Cloud chamber: begins experiments
- 1911Particle tracks: first photographs
- 1925Professor: Jacksonian chair at Cambridge
- 1927Nobel Prize: shared with Arthur Compton
Did you know?The idea came to him after watching mist and glories on top of Ben Nevis.
