Robert E. Wilson

Robert E. Wilson is an astrophysicist, academic, and author. He is a professor emeritus at the University of Florida (UF).

Wilson's research covers various aspects of astrophysics including stellar models, stellar structure and evolution, and close binary stars. He has co-edited and co-authored books on astrophysical topics, and his research has received awards such as the Humboldt Prize from Germany's Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

Wilson is a member of the American Astronomical Society, the Royal Astronomical Society, the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, the Norristown (PA) Eisenhower High School Hall of Fame, and the International Astronomical Union.

Education Wilson completed his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in 1963. At the University of Florida (UF) he served as Professor from 1979 to 2007. He then was appointed professor emeritus at UF and continues to publish in the field of astronomy. guest at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Garching, Germany (1979–80); Visiting Scientist at the UCLA Department of Astronomy (1986-87); and Visiting Scientist at the Indiana University Astronomy Department (2013–15).

Binary stars Wilson's earlier work led the move from geometric binary system models to physical models that directly treat tides, gravity brightening, star-star heating and re-radiation, and other physical phenomena. His computational revision of reflection has enhanced the synthesis of the effect, improving accuracy, generality, and efficiency, simplifying the implementation of multiple reflections by setting a control integer to 1 for one "bounce," 2 for two bounces, and so forth.

Advances of those times, the late 1960s to early 1990s, have been explained in Wilson's invited reviews such as his article on Binary Stars in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. His ideas have completed the set of four morphological types of binariesdetached, semi-detached, overcontact, and double contact, Additionally, his analytic modeling of self-gravitating semi-transparent circumstellar disks has now been augmented to include star and interior disk irradiation.

Awards and honors 1979 – Max Planck-Humboldt Research Award, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation/Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, Germany