physics

Robert Woodrow Wilson

Robert Woodrow Wilson is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Robert Woodrow Wilson rather than just read about it. In short: Robert Woodrow Wilson (born January 10, 1936) is an American astronomer who shared the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physics with Arno Penzias "for their discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation". While doing tests and experiments with the Holmdel Horn Antenna at Bell Labs in Holmdel Township, New Jersey, Wilson and Penzias discovered a source of noise in the atmosphere that they could not explain.

Key takeaways

Robert Woodrow Wilson belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Robert Woodrow Wilson to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Robert Woodrow Wilson from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Robert Woodrow Wilson (born January 10, 1936) is an American astronomer who shared the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physics with Arno Penzias "for their discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation". While doing tests and experiments with the Holmdel Horn Antenna at Bell Labs in Holmdel Township, New Jersey, Wilson and Penzias discovered a source of noise in the atmosphere that they could not explain. After removing all potential sources of noise, including pigeon droppings on the antenna, the noise was finally identified as CMB, which served as important corroboration of the Big Bang theory. In 1970, Wilson led a team that made the first detection of a rotational spectral line of carbon monoxide (CO) in an astronomical object, the Orion Nebula, and eight other galactic sources. Subsequently, CO observations became the standard method of tracing cool molecular interstellar gas, and detection of CO was the foundational event for the fields of millimeter and submillimeter astronomy.

Life and work

Robert Woodrow Wilson was born on January 10, 1936, in Houston, Texas. He graduated from Lamar High School in River Oaks, in Houston, and studied as an undergraduate at Rice University, also in Houston, where he was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa society. He then earned a PhD in physics at California Institute of Technology. His thesis advisors at Caltech included John Bolton and Maarten Schmidt. Wilson and Penzias also won the Henry Draper Medal of the National Academy of Sciences in 1977. Wilson received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement in 1987. Wilson remained at Bell Laboratories until 1994, when he was named a senior scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Wilson has been a resident of Holmdel Township, New Jersey. Wilson married Elizabeth Rhoads Sawin in 1958. Wilson is one of the 20 American recipients of the Nobel Prize in Physics to sign a letter addressed to President George W. Bush in May 2008, urging him to "reverse the damage done to basic science research in the Fiscal Year 2008 Omnibus Appropriations Bill" by requesting additional emergency funding for the Department of Energy's Office of Science, the National Science Foundation, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Wilson was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2009.

References

External links Robert Woodrow Wilson on Nobelprize.org including the Nobel Lecture, December 8, 1978 The Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation Robert Woodrow Wilson at IMDb Robert Woodrow Wilson discography at Discogs

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Robert Woodrow Wilson

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Robert Woodrow Wilson claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Robert Woodrow Wilson before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Robert Woodrow Wilson ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Robert Woodrow Wilson

In research: Robert Woodrow Wilson appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Robert Woodrow Wilson in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Robert Woodrow Wilson is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1936 births, 21st-century American physicists, American Nobel laureates, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Robert Woodrow Wilson outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Robert Woodrow Wilson in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Robert Woodrow Wilson means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Robert Woodrow Wilson out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Robert Woodrow Wilson in simple terms?

Why does Robert Woodrow Wilson matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Robert Woodrow Wilson?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Robert Woodrow Wilson.