Christine Wilson

Christine D. Wilson is a Canadian-American physicist and astronomer, currently a University Distinguished Professor at McMaster University. On August 5, 1986, Wilson discovered a comet, later named Comet Wilson (1987VII) after her, while analyzing photographic plates from the Samuel Oschin telescope at the Palomar Observatory. Early life and education Wilson is dual citizen of Canada and the United States. She completed her bachelor's degree, majoring in physics, at the University of Toronto prior to graduate studies at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). In 1986, while working for the summer as part of the Palomar Sky Survey, Wilson discovered a comet on August 5 while examining a photographic plate of a field of faint galaxies. She was 24 years old at the time of her discovery. Following convention, upon confirmation of her discovery, the comet was named Comet Wilson (1987VII). Wilson attended the California Institute of Technology where she studied the interstellar medium in the galaxy M33 with her research advisor Nick Scoville. She graduated with a PhD in Astronomy in 1990. Career and research In 1992, Wilson moved to McMaster University where she is currently a University Distinguished Professor. Her research is in observational astronomy, with a particular focus on the optical and radio regions. Most of her work is focused on various components of star formation and the molecular interstellar medium, and has included use of the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, Herschel Space Observatory, and the Submillimeter Array (SMA). Wilson is the principal investigator for three international projects associated with these telescope arrays, including the Nearby Galaxies Legacy Survey through the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, the Very Nearby Galaxies Survey from the Herschel Space Observatory, and the Submillimeter Array's Luminous Infrared Galaxies Survey. She is also the lead for the Herschel Key Project, which examined nearby galaxies to characterize interstellar dust. Furthermore, Wilson is an Associate Canadian Scientist for the Herschel Space Observatory's SPIRE instrument. From 1999 to 2014, Wilson also served as the Canadian Project Scientist for ALMA.