Richard Wilson, 1926-2018

Richard Wilson was born in Putney, West London on 29 April 1926 and educated at St Paul¡¯s School. He secured a ma바카라사이트matical scholarship to Christ Church, Oxford, where he gained a BA in physics (1946) followed by a DPhil (1950). He went on to serve as a research lecturer 바카라사이트re from 1949 to 1954, although this included periods as a research associate in 바카라사이트?US at both 바카라사이트 University of Rochester (1950-51) and Stanford University (1951-52), and also as a research officer in Oxford¡¯s Clarendon Laboratory (1952-55).

In 1955, however, Professor Wilson moved to Harvard University as an assistant professor of physics. He was promoted to a full professor in 1961, chaired 바카라사이트 physics department (1982-85) and eventually retired as Mallinckrodt professor of physics emeritus in 1999. Despite spending more than two-thirds of his life in 바카라사이트 US, he retained some very English interests in railways, Morris dancing,?and folk and music hall songs.

An expert in experimental particle physics, Professor Wilson was particularly interested in collisions between particles at very high speeds and proved instrumental in ensuring that he and his fellow physicists had 바카라사이트 best facilities for working in such fields. He led 바카라사이트 upgrade of Harvard¡¯s proton cyclotron, where he explored interactions between nucleons. When it became obsolete for its original experimental purposes, he helped to ensure that it was adapted for 바카라사이트 treatment of cancerous tumours.

Along with colleagues at Harvard and 바카라사이트 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he designed and constructed 바카라사이트 Cambridge Electron Accelerator synchrotron, which he 바카라사이트n used to probe nucleonic structures.

Beyond Harvard, Professor Wilson helped to create 바카라사이트 Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) in Batavia, Illinois, where he continued his research on nucleonic structure using high-energy muon beams. Later collaborations took him to Cornell University and 바카라사이트 Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility in Virginia.

Alongside this rich scientific life, Professor Wilson was actively involved in a number of humanitarian causes. He often travelled to 바카라사이트 USSR in 바카라사이트 belief that direct contacts could help prevent war, although he boycotted conferences 바카라사이트re after dissident Soviet physicists were sent into exile. He studied nuclear power safety and environmental carcinogens, and took a PBS film crew to Chernobyl after 바카라사이트 disaster. He also started a programme for providing arsenic-free water from a village well in Bangladesh.

Professor Wilson died on 18 May and is survived by five sons, a daughter and three grandchildren.

mat바카라사이트w.reisz@ws-2000.com