# Olin Chaddock Wilson

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American astronomer

Olin Chaddock Wilson Born (1909-01-13)January 13, 1909 San Francisco, California Died July 14, 1994(1994-07-14) (aged 85) West Lafayette, Indiana Education Ph.D. (1934) Alma mater California Institute of Technology Known for Stellar spectroscopy Spouse Katherine E. Johnson (m. 1943) Children Nicole, Randall Awards Bruce Medal (1984) Scientific career Fields Astronomy Thesis Comparison of the Balmer and Paschen Series of Hydrogen in Stellar Spectra (1934)

**Olin Chaddock Wilson** (January 13, 1909 – July 13, 1994) was an American [astronomer](/source/Astronomer) best known for his work as a stellar [spectroscopist](/source/Spectroscopy).[1]

Born in San Francisco, California as the son of a lawyer, Wilson showed an interest in physics at an early age. He studied astronomy and physics at the [University of California, Berkeley](/source/University_of_California%2C_Berkeley) and wrote his first scientific paper in 1932 on the subject of the [speed of light](/source/Speed_of_light). He received his [PhD](/source/Doctor_of_Philosophy) from the [California Institute of Technology](/source/California_Institute_of_Technology) in 1934.

Wilson was a staff member of [Mount Wilson Observatory](/source/Mount_Wilson_Observatory) (not named after Olin Wilson) for most of his research career where he studied [stellar](/source/Star) [chromospheres](/source/Chromosphere). He was the first scientist to discover activity cycles, similar to the [solar](/source/Sun) 11-year [sunspot](/source/Sunspot) cycle, in other stars. In collaboration with [Vainu Bappu](/source/Vainu_Bappu), an Indian astronomer, he also showed that there was a correlation between the width of the Ca II lines in stellar [spectra](/source/Spectrum) and the star's [luminosity](/source/Luminosity), the [Wilson–Bappu effect](/source/Wilson%E2%80%93Bappu_effect).[2]

He gave the [Henry Norris Russell Lectureship](/source/Henry_Norris_Russell_Lectureship) in 1977 and won the [Bruce Medal](/source/Bruce_Medal) in 1984.[3]

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Sciences, National Academy of (2003-05-07). [*Biographical Memoirs: Volume 82*](https://books.google.com/books?id=ByjTLa2HF1kC). National Academies Press. pp. 353–370. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-309-08698-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-309-08698-1).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Ridpath, Ian (2012-01-19). [*A Dictionary of Astronomy*](https://books.google.com/books?id=O31j9UJ3U4oC). OUP Oxford. p. 510. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-19-960905-5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-19-960905-5).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Preston_1995_3-0)** Preston, George W. (1995). ["Olin C. Wilson (1909-1994)"](https://doi.org/10.1086%2F133523). *Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific*. **107** (708): 97. [Bibcode](/source/Bibcode_(identifier)):[1995PASP..107...97P](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1995PASP..107...97P). [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1086/133523](https://doi.org/10.1086%2F133523). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [121127702](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:121127702).

## External links

- [National Academy of Sciences biography](http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/wilson-olin.pdf)

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