William Parkinson Wilson (late 1825 – 11 September 1874) was an astronomer and professor of mathematics who was born in England but spent most of his career in Australia.
He attended Cathedral Grammar School in Peterborough and in 1843 won a scholarship to St John's College, Cambridge where he earned his BA (and was senior wrangler) in 1847.
[3] In 1855 he moved to Australia and, along with William Hearn, became one of the four founding professors of the University of Melbourne.
[1] He was active in the Philosophical Institute (founded in 1855) and its successor the Royal Society of Victoria.
While at his earlier position in Belfast, Wilson had in 1856 advocated Melbourne as the site for a southern hemisphere observatory––long a goal of the Royal Society.