Arthur B. C. Walker Jr.

Arthur Bertram Cuthbert Walker Jr. was an American solar physicist and a pioneer of EUV/XUV optics. He developed normal incidence multilayer XUV telescopes to photograph the solar corona. Two of his sounding rocket payloads, the Stanford/MSFC Rocket Spectroheliograph Experiment and the Multi-Spectral Solar Telescope Array, recorded the first full-disk, high-resolution images of the Sun in XUV with conventional geometries of normal incidence optics. This technology is used in solar telescopes such as SOHO/EIT and TRACE, and in the fabrication of microchips via ultraviolet photolithography.

Early life and education

Walker was born in Cleveland, Ohio on August 24, 1936, to Arthur and Hilda Walker. He was an only child. Arthur moved to New York City at the age of five. Arthur attended Bronx High School of Science. His dissertation for his doctorate titled, “Photo meson Production from Neutrons Bound in Helium and Deuterium,” focused on the atomic binding of protons and neutrons, as well as the radiation and force carriers involved in this process. ==Career==

Career

In 1962, Walker began his scientific career in the U.S. Air Force. He held the rank of first lieutenant, and worked in the Weapons Laboratory. Walker helped to create a satellite to study Van Allen belt radiation. Much of his career involved using rocket technology and satellites to study the Sun's atmosphere at the ultraviolet and X-ray levels. Walker also set up an informal advocacy association with other black faculty members called the "Banneker Group". He was instrumental in building Congressional approval for the National Solar Observatory, and served on the Rogers Commission which investigated the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986. == Research ==

Research

Walker, alongside H.R. Rugge, completed early studies, from 1965 to 1975, to view the Sun's atmosphere with X-ray imaging. Walker believed that Barbee's multilayered thin films would provide improved images for an X-ray telescope. This new technology was the basis of the dark matter detection method advanced by Professor Blas Cabrera of Stanford's physics department. ==Death and legacy==

Death and legacy

Walker died on April 29, 2001, at home on the Stanford campus, following a battle with cancer. Walker was survived by his second wife Victoria, a daughter, Heather M. M. Walker; two stepsons, Nigel D. Gibbs and Eric D. Gibbs; and four grandchildren. == References ==

Source: Wikipedia ↗

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