Science · Engineering & invention
Robert Wilson
Radio astronomer and microwave-background experimenter
Also known as Robert W. Wilson · R. W. Wilson
Photograph · Image credit
Who they are
Robert Wilson worked with Arno Penzias on measurements of microwave noise that remained after instrumental and atmospheric effects were considered. Their 1965 paper documented an excess antenna temperature. A separate Princeton paper supplied the cosmological interpretation, connecting this measurement to radiation from a hot early universe and preserving the distinction between observation and explanation.
He is part of the observational foundation for modern cosmology represented by the paired 1965 papers.
Selected contributions
- Coauthored the measurement of excess antenna temperature at 4080 Mc/s.Source ↗
Selected works
Academic paper · 1965 · Historical journal article
A Measurement of Excess Antenna Temperature at 4080 Mc/s
Penzias and Wilson report residual microwave antenna temperature after examining instrumental and environmental explanations. Its measurement is paired historically with a separate paper offering a hot-universe interpretation.
Reading scope & citation
Reused prior inspected evidence: All three pages of this short paper’s extracted text inspected, including calibration discussion; not independent data reanalysis.
In the timeline
Documented connections
Documented · co authored with
Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson co-authored the microwave-background measurement paper.
Dicke, Peebles, Roll and Wilkinson supplied the separate cosmological interpretation paper.
Read the relationship record →Biography sources & portrait credit
- A Measurement of Excess Antenna Temperature at 4080 Mc/s ↗The Astrophysical Journal / American Astronomical Society; NASA ADS scan
Portrait credit
Samtxts. CC BY-SA 4.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.
Photograph. Cropped to 4:5, resized to 320 × 400 and converted to WebP.
