David Alan Walker (18 August 1928 – 12 February 2012) was a British scientist and professor of

photosynthesis Photosynthesis is a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy into chemical energy that, through cellular respiration, can later be released to fuel the organism's activities. Some of this chemical energy is stored i ...

in the Department of Animal and Plant Sciences (APS) at the

University of Sheffield The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University or TUOS) is a public university, public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its history traces back to the foundation of Sheffield Medical School in 1828, Firth C ...

. He authored over 200 scientific publications including several books during his lifetime.

Education

Walker was born in

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in affi ...

and attended South Shields Boys' High School from 1939 to 1946. After doing his

national service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The ...

in the

Royal Naval Air Service The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps t ...

, he studied at King's College, Newcastle, then part of the Durham University, where he received his Bachelor of Science and subsequently his

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper ''Piled Higher and Deeper'' (also known as ''PhD Comics''), is a newsp ...

for research supervised by

Meirion Thomas Meirion Thomas (28 December 1894 – 5 April 1977) was a 20th-century Welsh botanist and plant physiologist. Education and early life Thomas was born on 28 December 1894 at 2 Menai Terrace in Bangor, Wales, the son of John Thomas, Vice Prin ...

Career and research

Walker's research interests were in photosynthesis, specifically he:

Awards and honours

Walker was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathematic ...

(FRS) in 1976. His nomination reads: In 2004, Walker received the International Society of Photosynthesis Research Communications Award "to acknowledge his outstanding efforts to communicate photosynthesis to the general public." Walker was also awarded a

Doctor of Science Doctor of Science ( la, links=no, Scientiae Doctor), usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D., or D.S., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries, "Doctor of Science" is the degree used f ...

degree from

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a UK public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick unive ...

in recognition of his exceptional contributions of published work in his field.

References

1928 births 2012 deaths British botanists Researchers of photosynthesis Academics of the University of Sheffield Scientists from Kingston upon Hull Fellows of the Royal Society Alumni of King's College, Newcastle {{UK-botanist-stub