Thomas Wilson Aitken was born in Clarkston, East Renfrewshire on 02 November 1938 , son of William Lowden Aitken, a clerk. He attended Thorn School in Johnstone, Renfrewshire and John Neilson Institution in Paisley, Renfrewshire. He first attended the University of Glasgow in 1956 taking Mathematics, Chemistry and Natural Philosophy. The following year he studied Mathematics, Natural Philosophy and Zoology. In 1958-1959 and 1959-1960 he took Honours classes in Natural Philosophy, being awarded a second class Bachelor of Science degree on 09 July 1960 . He immediately applied for admission as a research student towards a PhD under the supervision of Professor Phillip Ivor Dee. His thesis, Experiments on the extension of the energy of the 300MeV Glasgow Synchrotron and the characteristics of its output was accepted in 1966 and his PhD duly awarded. On 01 October 1963 he was appointed as an Assistant in the University of Glasgow??s Natural Philosophy Department, resigning on 30 September 1966 to take up an appointment as Senior Scientific Officer with the Science Research Council at Daresbury Nuclear Physics Laboratory.
From the guide to the Papers of Thomas Wilson Aitken, b1938, research physicist, University of Glasgow, Scotland, 1963-1966, 1956-1964, (Glasgow University Archives Service)
