Watson, William Heriot

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Watson, William Heriot

1899-1987

William Heriot Watson (1899-1987), physicist, was born in Scotland and educated at Edinburgh and Cambridge. In 1931, he came to Canada as Assistant Professor of Physics at McGill University 1931-1944, then Professor of Mathematics and Department Head, University of Saskatchewan 1944-1946. From 1946 to 1951 he was Research Physicist and Head of Theoretical Physics, National Research Council Atomic Energy Division. At the University of Toronto he was head of the Physics Department 1950-1961 and Director Computation Centre 1952-1962. Dr. Watson then served as Senior Consulting Scientist at Lockheed Missles, Palo Alto, California 1962-1969. He retired to British Columbia. In his early years at Cambridge Dr Watson became friendly with Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951), a friendship and correspondence that endured for many years. Dr. Watson had many publications on physics, radar, and computers and two major works, On Understanding Physics (1938) and Understanding Physics Today (1963).

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