Lucy Wilson

Lucy Wilson (October 19, 1888 – September 22, 1980) was an American physicist, known for her research on theories of vision, optics and X-ray spectroscopy.

She was born October 19, 1888 in Bloomington, Illinois, the daughter of Lucy Barron White and John James Speed Wilson, Jr. Her father worked for American Telephone and Telegraph in Chicago. When Wilson was about 2, her father died and her mother took the young Lucy and her baby brother to live with their grandparents in Bloomington.

Wilson earned her bachelors from Wellesley College in 1909, following which she became an assistant and then an instructor in physics at Mount Holyoke College until 1911. She left this position to complete a PhD at Johns Hopkins University, and received a position at Wellesley College in 1917.

She became a professor in physics and psychology in 1935. This dual appointment was a result of work in both perception and optics. From 1938 she also held administrative positions, beginning with acting dean of college in 1938 and then as the College's first dean of students in 1939. In 1945 she was named the Sarah Frances Whiting professor, a position created in honor of the Wesley College physicist and astronomer Sarah Frances Whiting. She retired in 1954, following which the senior class established a scholarship fund in her name.

Wilson died on September 22, 1980 in Wellesley, Massachusetts.