Gilbert Walker
| Gilbert Walker | |
|---|---|
| Born | Gilbert Thomas Walker 14 June 1868 Rochdale, Lancashire |
| Died | 4 November 1958 (aged 90) Coulsdon, Surrey |
| Fields | Meteorology, Statistician |
| Institutions | University of Cambridge |
| Alma mater |
Trinity College, Cambridge Imperial College London |
| Notable awards |
Fellow of the Royal Society Adams Prize (1899) |
Sir Gilbert Thomas Walker, CSI, FRS (14 June 1868 – 4 November 1958) was a British physicist and statistician of the 20th century. Walker studied mathematics and applied it to a variety of fields including aerodynamics, electromagnetism and the analysis of time-series data before taking up a teaching position at Cambridge University. Although he had no experience in meteorology, he was recruited for a post in the Indian Meteorological Department where he worked on statistical approaches to predict the monsoons. He developed the methods in the analysis of time-series data that are now called the Yule-Walker equations. He is known for his groundbreaking description of the Southern Oscillation, a major phenomenon of global climate, and for discovering what is named after him as the Walker circulation, and for greatly advancing the study of climate in general. He was also instrumental in aiding the early career of the Indian mathematical prodigy, Srinivasa Ramanujan.
He was born in Rochdale, Lancashire on 14 June 1868, the fourth child and eldest son of Thomas Walker and Elizabeth Charlotte Haslehurst. Thomas was Borough Engineer of Croydon and had pioneered the use of concrete for town reservoirs. He attended Whitgift School where he showed an interest in mathematics and got a scholarship to study at St Paul's School. He obtained a degree in Metallurgy from Imperial College London and attended Trinity College, Cambridge where he was Senior Wrangler in 1889. His hard studies led to ill-health and he spent several winters recuperating in Switzerland where he learnt skating and became quite expert. He became a lecturer at Trinity College from 1895.
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