Sven Gösta Nilsson (January 14, 1927, Kristianstad – April 24, 1979, Lund) was a Swedish theoretical physicist at the Lund Institute of Technology. Nilsson's father was a preacher. As an undergraduate engineering student, he spent a year at Occidental College in California. He obtained a Master of Science in engineering physics at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. Influenced by and Torsten Gustafson, Nilsson decided to switch paths from engineering to physics, and in 1950 he was admitted to postgraduate studies in Lund with Gustafson as his supervisor.