156 years ago today, on February 14, 1869 (January 4, 1869 lunar calendar), British physicist Charles Wilson was born. Charles Wilson Charles Thomson Rees Wilson (February 14, 1869 - November 15, 1959), British experimental physicist, one of the winners of the 1927 Nobel Prize in Physics. Wilson was born outside Edinburgh, Scotland. He graduated from Cambridge University in 1892, and later stayed at school for experimental research. In 1896, he invented the Wilson cloud chamber, in a closed container, input pure ethanol or methanol vapor, by reducing the temperature of the steam to a supersaturated state, at this time, if there are charged particles injected, ions will be generated on the path, supersaturated steam will condense with ions as the core into small droplets, thus showing the particle track. In 1912, Wilson improved the cloud chamber and added photographic equipment. Wilson's invention of the cloud chamber greatly promoted the development of particle physics, and many kinds of charged particles were found in the cloud chamber. For this achievement, Wilson was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1927. In 1959, Wilson died in Scotland.