Black History
Arthur Bertram Cuthbert Walker II: A Space Science Inspiration for Generations
For young Arthur Bertram Cuthbert Walker II (1936–2001), the only love in his future was science. Born in Cleveland, his family relocated to Bronx, NY. It was there that he, with the support of his parents, would begin studying what would direct his future.
Arthur first attended an elementary school of which his mother, Hilda Walker, disapproved.
For young Arthur Bertram Cuthbert Walker II (1936–2001), the only love in his future was science. Born in Cleveland, his family relocated to Bronx, NY. It was there that he, with the support of his parents, would begin studying what would direct his future.
Arthur first attended an elementary school of which his mother, Hilda Walker, disapproved. Teachers there, she alleged, left their classrooms throughout the day to run personal errands. She soon had Arthur transferred to a school outside of their district, where he began to blossom as a student.
It was a combination of the library and his science-related studies that defined Arthur’s goal: to study the universe like Albert Einstein. His mother began to work with him to prepare for the Bronx High School of Science entrance exam. But not everyone would embrace him as a thriving, ambitious student.
While attending high school, his first interest was chemistry. His teacher though, did his best to discourage him from studying any genre of science because “the prospects for Blacks in science were bleak.” Hilda Walker again stepped in, warning the teacher to back off, adding that her son would study whatever he pleased.
By the end of high school, physics had won Arthur’s heart. Hilda then encouraged him to apply to the Case Institute of Technology (now part of Case Western Reserve University) in Cleveland.
There he earned a bachelor’s degree in physics with honors in 1957, and master’s (1958) and doctorate (1962) degrees at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
After completing his education, Walker joined the Air Force as 1st lieutenant. He was assigned to the weapons laboratory, where he developed instrumentation for a rocket-launched satellite to measure Van Allen belt radiation in Earth’s magnetic field. This opportunity and exposure piqued his interest in space-based research.
Post military (1965), Walker joined the Space Physics laboratory of the Aerospace Corporation in Southern California. There, he began investigating the sun’s atmosphere, first at ultraviolet wavelengths, and then X-rays, using rocket-launched instruments.
In the late 1970s, Walker became interested in multilayer technology for making special telescope mirrors that could reflect that radiation. At that time, it was thought to be “a risky and untested concept.”
Technology he researched and helped develop then is now in wide use, and is aboard two major NASA satellites: the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory and the Transition Region and Coronal Explorer.
He also became a professor in the Applied Physics department at Stanford University in 1974.
One of nation’s top scientists in solar research, Walker shot innovative telescopes into space, giving scientists a view of the sun they had never seen before, and from 1987, developed telescopes that have ridden satellites into space, capturing the first pictures of that corona.
Walker spent his lifetime helping women and minority students find careers in science. This resulted in Stanford having more minority graduate physics and applied physics students than any major research university in the country.
Walker died of cancer at his home at Stanford University in 2001.
