William Wilson FRS[1] FHAS (1 March 1875 – 14 October 1965) was a leading figure in English academic circles.

[2] Wilson attended the Aspatria Agricultural College between the years 1891–93 under the tutorship of Henry J. Webb.

In the college internal examinations he gained First prizes for chemistry, mathematics and animal philosophy; Certificates of honour for physiology, botany and zoology; for which he won the Principals prize for gaining the highest aggregate marks in these examinations.

[6] His teaching career started in 1906 following his return from Germany, when he became an assistant lecturer in the Wheatstone laboratory in King's College London.

During the years spent at King's College, he developed his work and knowledge on the emission of photons from hot bodies.

Thanks to his knowledge of generalised mechanics, he was able to appreciate the consequences of the postulates introduced by Niels Bohr in the quantum theory field.