Arthur Geoffrey Walker | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1909-07-17)17 July 1909 Watford,Hertfordshire, England |
| Died | 31 March 2001(2001-03-31) (aged 91) West Chiltington,Sussex, England |
| Alma mater | Balliol College, Oxford Merton College, Oxford University of Edinburgh |
| Known for | Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker metric Fermi–Walker transport |
| Spouse | Phyllis Ashcroft Freeman (m. 1939) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematical physics |
| Institutions | University of Sheffield |
| Doctoral advisor | Edmund Taylor Whittaker |
Arthur Geoffrey WalkerFRSFRSE (17 July 1909 inWatford,Hertfordshire, England – 31 March 2001)[1][2] was a Britishmathematician and professor of theUniversity of Sheffield who made important contributions tophysical cosmology. Although he was an accomplishedgeometer, he is best remembered today for two important contributions togeneral relativity, namely, theRobertson-Walker metric and theFermi–Walker transport.
He was born inWatford on 17 July 1909 the son of Arthur John Walker (b.1879), a coach builder, and his wife, Eleanor Joanna Gosling.[2]
Walker attendedWatford Grammar School for Boys and won a scholarship toBalliol College, Oxford, where he graduated with first class honours in Mathematics.[3] He then studied atMerton College, Oxford. He then went as a postgraduate toUniversity of Edinburgh, studying for his doctorate (PhD) under ProfessorEdmund Taylor Whittaker. ProfessorArthur Stanley Eddington was his external examiner.[2][3] His exposure to differential geometry, general relativity, and cosmology created the background for his future work.[1]
Luther Pfahler Eisenhart's 1926 text,Riemannian Geometry, proved to a great influence on Walker, who referred to it as his "Bible" and cited it in many of his papers.[1] The notion ofparallel transport was introduced byTullio Levi-Civita and again byEnrico Fermi, who also applied it toworld lines in spacetime. In 1932, Walker developed this idea further, creating the technique of parallel transport for atensor. The Fermi-Walker transport is now of common use in general relativity.[1]
Walker took up a post as Lecturer atImperial College in 1935; the following year he was appointed as Lecturer in Pure Mathematics at theUniversity of Liverpool, a post he held until 1947, when he moved to theUniversity of Sheffield as Professor of Pure Mathematics.[2][3] In 1935, Walker and Robertson demonstrated that the isotropic and homogeneous cosmological models previously constructed byGeorges Lemaître andAlexander Friedmann all shared the same general form, the Robertson-Walker metric. They also showed that this was the most general model possible that featuredisotropy andhomogeneity (see theCopernican principle).[1] During the mid 1930s, he collaborated with the Department of Mechanical Engineering on problems involving tidal flow.[1]
In 1946 he was elected a Fellow of theRoyal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers wereHarold Stanley Ruse, Sir Edmund Taylor Whittaker,David Gibb andWilliam Edge. He won the Society'sKeith Medal for the period 1947/49.[4]
In 1952 he returned to Liverpool University, in 1962 becoming Dean of its Faculty of Science.[3] Having been elected a Fellow of theRoyal Society in 1955, he served as a member of the organisation's council from 1961 to 1962.[3] He served as president of theLondon Mathematical Society from 1962 to 1963.[4] Walker retired from Liverpool University in 1974.[2]
Walker married Phyllis Ashcroft Freeman in 1939;[3] the couple were accomplished ballroom dancers.[2] He died inChichester on 31 March 2001, aged 91.[2][4]
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