Arthur Geoffrey Walker

Arthur Geoffrey Walker FRS FRSE (17 July 1909 in Watford, Hertfordshire, England – 31 March 2001) was a British mathematician and professor of the University of Sheffield who made important contributions to physical cosmology. Although he was an accomplished geometer, he is best remembered today for two important contributions to general relativity, namely, the Robertson-Walker metric and the Fermi–Walker transport.

Early life 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. He then studied at Merton College, Oxford. He then went as a postgraduate to University of Edinburgh, studying for his doctorate (PhD) under Professor Edmund Taylor Whittaker. Professor Arthur Stanley Eddington was his external examiner. Berwick Prize, 1947 Fellow of the Royal Society, 1955

Personal life Walker married Phyllis Ashcroft Freeman in 1939; the couple were accomplished ballroom dancers. He died in Chichester on 31 March 2001, aged 91.