Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Walker, Robert L., 1919-
- Abstract:
- This collection documents the career of Robert L. Walker, Professor of Physics at Caltech from 1949-1981. The records illustrate Walker's expertise in experimental high energy physics, particularly in the design of detectors. The records include working files relating to the Caltech synchrotron; technical files and log books; correspondence; manuscripts and reports; and files relating to other accelerator laboratories.
- Extent:
- 6 linear feet
- Language:
- English.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
This collection was donated to the Archives of the California Institute of Technology by Dr. Walker himself in two installments. In 1996, Dr. Walker gave permission to transfer to the Institute Archives the content of some file cabinets that he had left with the Physics Division. Two years later, Dr. Walker returned to the Archives, bringing additional correspondence and material pertaining to the Caltech synchrotron. It should be noted that the material was already somewhat organized when donated (correspondence, synchrotron, and committee documents in separate folders).
- Biographical / historical:
-
Born in Saint Louis, Missouri on June 29, 1919, Robert Walker spent most of his childhood in Winnetka, a suburb north of Chicago. After graduating from a local high school, he attended Harvard University for one year and then transferred to the University of Chicago, where he graduated in 1941 with a B.Sc. in physics. During the war, Walker worked on the Manhattan Project first in the Metallurgical Laboratory of the University of Chicago, then in Los Alamos National Laboratory where the atomic bomb was built.
When the war ended, Walker decided to pursue an academic career and entered Cornell University. At this stage of his life he developed a strong interest in high-energy physics. During his dissertation work, he built a tiny cyclotron, designed experiments, made measurements, then analyzed the data. In less than one year, Walker obtained his PhD (1948). He stayed an additional year at Cornell University and participated in the construction of their 300 MeV electron synchrotron.
Early in the fall of 1949, Robert Walker joined the California Institute of Technology as an Assistant Professor of physics. Soon after, he became involved, along with Bruce Rule and Robert Langmuir, in the enormous task of building the most powerful machine of its type ever built, the Caltech 1.2 Billion-Volt Synchrotron. Sadly, he was also involved some twenty years later in its dismantlement. During and after the operation of the synchrotron, Walker's interest was in elementary particle physics, and more specifically in the study of photoproduction of pions.
Dr. Walker referred to himself as being sometimes a "professional committee person." He was indeed a member of various professional organizations, most of them sponsored by the Atomic Energy Commission to study the fate of various high-energy physics programs in the United States.
In addition to his research, teaching and involvement in committees, Dr. Walker published an influential book Mathematical Methods of Physics with Jon Mathews, which is still in print.
In 1982, Professor Walker decided to retire from Caltech. He is now living in New Mexico, enjoying activities such as building harpsichords, reading about biology, and canoeing in the Arctic.
- Acquisition information:
- Gift of Dr. Robert L. Walker in 1996 and 1998 .
Access and use
- Location of this collection:
-
1200 E. California Blvd.MC B215-74Pasadena, CA 91125, US
- Contact:
- (626) 395-2704