MutualArt.com: Robert W. Wood
- #news
- #headline
Figure timeline
Robert W. Wood
Robert Williams Wood was an American physicist and inventor who made pivotal contributions to the field of optics. He pioneered infrared and ultraviolet photography. Wood's patents and theoretical work inform modern understanding of the physics of ultraviolet light, and made possible myriad uses of UV fluorescence, which became popular after World War I. He published many articles on spectroscopy,…
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
science · American physicist and inventor (1868–1955) · physicist · novelist · university teacher · science fiction writer · inventor · also Robert W. Wood, Robert Wood, Robert Williams Wood, R. W. Wood, Wood
Born 2 May 1868 · Died 11 August 1955 · Q550926
28 published statements · 0 followers
See & hear
Photos & media
4 photos
Media from Wikimedia Commons, hotlinked at the source under its own licence — see each file for author and terms.
Live now
In the news
Pulling headlines from trusted outlets — this usually takes a few seconds
Checking the wires…
Feed scan
These are live links, not archived citations — they only join the timeline once a collect run verifies and archives them.
Live pulse
Recent highlights
Most recent outstanding titles, awards, and quotes
- Title
- Title
2026· 1 entry
1978· 1 entry
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics — for their discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation.
- #nobel
- #award
- #honour
1965· 1 entry
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry — for his outstanding achievements in the art of organic synthesis.
- #nobel
- #award
- #honour
1955· 1 entry
Died 1955-08-11.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #death
1944· 1 entry
Was elected an Honorary Member of The Optical Society
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1940· 1 entry
Won Henry Draper Medal (1940).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #trophy
- #achievement
1938· 3 entries
Won Rumford Medal (1938).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #trophy
- #achievement
Awarded Rumford Prize (1938).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Officially retired and was then appointed Research Professor, a position he kept until his death
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1937· 1 entry
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Peace — for his tireless effort in support of the League of Nations, disarmament and peace.
- #nobel
- #award
- #honour
1934· 1 entry
From a carelessly discarded blasting cap and his experiments derived therefrom would lead to the first scientific publication on explosively formed penetrators in the Proceedings of the Royal Society in 1936
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1933· 1 entry
Won Frederic Ives Medal (1933).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #trophy
- #achievement
1926· 1 entry
Wood recounted Langevin's experiments to Alfred Lee Loomis, and the two of them collaborated on high intensity ultrasound experiments; this turned out to be Wood's primary contribution to the field of ultrasonics
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1919· 1 entry
Awarded Foreign Member of the Royal Society (1919).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1918· 1 entry
Won Matteucci Medal (1918).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #trophy
- #achievement
1915· 1 entry
Wood co-wrote a science fiction novel, The Man Who Rocked the Earth, along with Arthur Train
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1914· 1 entry
Awarded Guthrie Lecture (1914).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1909· 1 entry
Wood constructed the first practical liquid-mirror astronomical telescope, by spinning mercury to form a paraboloidal shape, and investigated its benefits and limitations
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1907· 1 entry
“s verse, How to Tell the Birds from the Flowers (1907), and Animal Analogues (1908). Personal life In 1892, Wood married Gertrude Hooper Ames in San Francisco. She was the daughter of Pelham Warren and Augusta Hooper (Wood) Ames, and the granddaughter of William Northey Hooper and the Massachusetts Supreme Court justice Seth Ames. She was his”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #quote
1904· 1 entry
Wood disproved the existence of so-called N-rays
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1903· 1 entry
Developed a filter, Wood's glass, that was opaque to visible light but transparent to both ultraviolet and infrared, and is used in modern-day black lights
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1902· 1 entry
Wood found that the reflection spectra of sub-wavelength metallic grating had dark areas
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1897· 1 entry
As an instructor at the University of Wisconsin
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1896· 1 entry
Returned to the US, first the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1894· 1 entry
Went to the Berlin University to continue chemistry, and under Heinrich Rubens's influence changed permanently to a career in physics
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1892· 1 entry
Wood married Gertrude Hooper Ames in San Francisco
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1868· 1 entry
Born 1868-05-02.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #birth
1803· 1 entry
And worked as a physician in Maine until 1838, then as a physician and pioneer in the sugar industry on the Hawaiian Islands until 1866
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event