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Raymond N. Wilson is an English physicist and telescope optics designer. His first degree was in physics from the University of Birmingham, followed by studying engineering at Imperial College. After completing national service in 1952, he resumed his work on optics.
Wilson worked at the European Southern Observatory for over 20 years, from 1972 to 1993, first in Geneva and then in Garching, Germany. Before that, he spent 11 years as Head of the Design Department for telescopes at Carl Zeiss AG in Oberkochen, Germany. He also worked at Imperial College and at the National Physical Laboratory in the UK. His position at the ESO was Head of the Optics and Telescopes Group.
His major contributions have been in telescope optics and technology. In particular, he developed the concept of active optics, which is now the basic principle on which large telescopes are constructed. The concept of active optics was developed first in ESO's New Technology Telescope, and then in ESO's Very Large Telescope.
Wilson retired in 1993, writing a two-volume monograph Reflecting Telescope Optics, a leading work in the field. He also extended the design of large telescopes to the next-generation designs that use three, four, and five mirrors.
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