University of Florida Homepage

Robert Wilson

Picture of Robert Wilson
Professor Emeritus

Contact Information

Office: 322 Bryant Space Science Center

Overview

Like Abraham Lincoln, I was born in a log cabin that I built with my own hands. My parents operated a photography shop, where I learned just enough optics to explain how to take pictures, as long as no one asked any hard questions. I took an early interest in several team sports but couldn’t play any of them so nothing was left but astronomy. Having developed strong aversions to everything trendy, I was guided naturally into binary star research, and particularly into novel developments that a core of about two persons, both living on this planet, find interesting. In my next life I plan to be trendy and athletic, and to save the whales.

Educational Background
  • Ph.D., Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, 1963

Research

Variable Stars, HR Diagram Analysis, Eclipsing Binary Models and Analysis.

Areas of Expertise
  • Stellar Models
  • Stellar Structure & Evolution
  • Close Binary Stars

wd program 2015