On leave from this lectureship he visited America on a Guggenheim fellowship in 1950 – 1952, firstly at Rochester New York, then at Stanford University, California.
At Harvard he became an enthusiastic supporter of the Cambridge Electron Accelerator (CEA) and was Chairman of the Management committee from 1961 to 1968.
In 1991 he realised that the general public was no longer automatically supporting physicists and began a career explaining the positive aspects of radiation use, as well as its risks and dangers.
In this he used the "hands on" style of an experimental physicist and soon became an expert on nuclear accidents: Three Mile Island, Chernobyl & Fukushima.
He is particularly known for his visits to Chernobyl, being the first American scientist to go to the plant, and measure radioactivity levels thereby exposing himself to the dangers.
In this work he realised that while it is interesting what scientists say in their conferences; the US public is more concerned about of what Congress enacts in response but most importantly what the courts said last week.
Wilson is the author of 935 published articles and papers in particle physics and (nuclear) risk assessment.