Arthur Geoffrey Walker: Difference between revisions

Prof '''Arthur Geoffrey Walker''' [[Royal Society of London|FRS]] [[FRSE]] (17 July 1909 in [[Watford]], [[Hertfordshire]], England –&ndash; 31 March 2001)<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Hitchin | first1 = N. J. | doi = 10.1098/rsbm.2006.0028 | title = Arthur Geoffrey Walker. 17 July 1909 -- 31 March 2001: Elected FRS 1955 | journal = [[Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society]] | volume = 52 | pages = 413–421 | year = 2006 | pmiddoi-access = | pmc = }}</ref><ref name="TimesObitMacTutor">{{cite web |first1=J.J. |last1=O'Connor |first2=E.F. |last2=Robertson |author-link2=Edmund F. Robertson |url=httphttps://www-groups.dcsmathshistory.st-andandrews.ac.uk/~history/MathematiciansBiographies/Walker_Arthur.html/ |title=Walker_ArthurArthur summaryGeoffrey Walker |work=[[MacTutor History of Mathematics archive|accessdateMacTutor]] |date=2011October 2003 |access-07date=2021-2110-10}}</ref> was a leadingBritish [[mathematician]] who made important contributions to [[physics]] and [[physical cosmology]]. Although he was an accomplished [[differential geometry|geometer]], he is best remembered today for two important contributions to [[general relativity]].

Together with [[Howard Percy Robertson|H. P. Robertson]], they devised the well-known '''[[Robertson–Walker metric|Robertson-Walker unitmetric]]''' for the [[Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker]] cosmological models, which are [[exact solutions in general relativity|exact solutions]] of the Einstein field equation. Together with [[Enrico Fermi]], he introduced the notion of '''[[Fermi–Walker differentiation]]'''.

He was born in [[Watford]] on 17 July 1909 the son of Arthur John Walker (b.1879), a coach builder, and his wife, Eleanor Joanna Gosling.<ref>http: name="MacTutor"//www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Walker_Arthur.html</ref>

Walker attended [[Watford Grammar School for Boys]] and won a scholarship to [[Balliol College, Oxford]], where he graduated with first class honours in Mathematics.<ref name="MCreg">{{cite book|editor1-last=Levens|editor1-first=R.G.C.|title=Merton College Register 1900-1964|date=1964|publisher=[[Basil Blackwell]]|location=Oxford|page=232}}</ref> He then studied at [[Merton College, Oxford]]. He then went as a postgraduate to [[University of Edinburgh]], studying under Prof [[Arthur Eddington]] and gaining his first doctorate (PhD).<ref name=MCreg "MacTutor"/><ref>{{cite web | title name=MCreg A. G. Walker| publisher = [[The Times]]| year = 2001| url = http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Obits/Walker_Arthur.html | accessdate =2008-10-13 }}</ref>

Walker took up a post as Lecturer at [[Imperial College]] in 1935; the following year he was appointed as Lecturer in Pure Mathematics at the [[University of Liverpool]], a post he held until 1947, when he moved to the [[University of Sheffield]] as Professor of Pure Mathematics.<ref name=TimesObit"MacTutor" /><ref name=MCreg />

In 1946 he was elected a Fellow of the [[Royal Society of Edinburgh]]. His proposers were [[Harold Stanley Ruse]], Sir [[Edmund Taylor Whittaker]], [[David Gibb (mathematician)|David Gibb]] and [[William Edge (mathematician)|William Edge]]. He won the Society's [[Keith Medal]] for the period 1947/49.<ref name = KM/>

In 1952 he returned to Liverpool University, in 1962 becoming Dean of its Faculty of Science.<ref name=MCreg /> Having been elected a Fellow of the [[Royal Society]] in 1955, he served as a member of the organisation's council from 1961-2 to 1962.<ref name=MCreg /> He served as Presidentpresident of the [[London Mathematical Society]] from 1962-3 to 1963.<ref name=KM /> Walker retired from Liverpool University in 1974.<ref name=TimesObit"MacTutor" />

*Fellow of the [[Royal Society of Edinburgh]], 1946<ref name = KM>{{cite webbook|url=http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|title = Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|publisher=[[Royal Society of Edinburgh]]|accessdatedate=July 2006|page=959|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|access-date=27 November 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116140212/http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|archive-date=16 January 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>

*[[Berwick Prize]], 1947<ref name=TimesObit"MacTutor" /><ref name=MCreg />

*[[Keith Medal]], 1947-9<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=IEhAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ZZEMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3924%2C129473|title= Royal Society of Edinburgh. Awards to Professors |work=[[The Glasgow Herald]] |date=2 May 1950 |page=3 |accessdateaccess-date=1 May 2018}}</ref>

*Fellow of the [[Royal Society]], 1955<ref name=TimesObit"MacTutor" /><ref name=MCreg /><ref name=KM />

Walker married Phyllis Ashcroft Freeman in 1939;<ref name=MCreg /> the couple were accomplished ballroom dancers.<ref name=TimesObit"MacTutor" /> He died in [[Chichester]] on 31 March 2001, aged 91.<ref name=TimesObit"MacTutor" /><ref name=KM />

*{{cite web |title=Arthur Geoffrey Walker |first1=J J |last1=O'Connor |first2=E F |last2=Robertson|url=httphttps://www-history.mcsmathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Walker_Arthur.html/ |publisher=School of Mathematics and Statistics; University of St Andrews, Scotland |accessdateaccess-date=17 January 2015}}

*{{cite web |title=Arthur Geoffrey Walker |url=http://www.genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/id.php?id=143411 |publisher=Mathematical Genealogy Project; North Dakota State University |accessdateaccess-date=17 January 2015}}

[[Category:CosmologistsBritish cosmologists]]

[[Category:RelativityBritish relativity theorists]]