George Walker, creative and influential volcanologist, dead at 78
The Independant
George Patrick Leonard Walker, volcanologist: born London 2 March 1926; Assistant Lecturer, then Lecturer, Imperial College, London 1951-64, Reader in Geology 1964-79; FRS 1975; Captain J. Cook Research Fellow, Royal Society of New Zealand 1978-80; G.A. Macdonald Professor of Volcanology, University of Hawaii 1981-96, Professor Emeritus 1999-2005; married 1958 Hazel Smith (one son, one daughter); died Gloucester 17 January 2005.
George Walker was one of the most creative, productive and influential British volcanologists of the 20th century.
In general, his fame rested on his ability to meld observational skills with novel conceptual models to yield fundamentally new insights into how volcanoes worked. He covered a wide range of volcano types and eruption styles, from lava flows on Hawaii and Mount Etna through to huge pumice eruptions in the Azores, Italy and New Zealand. His overall research contribution arose from his dedication to measuring, rather than simply describing, eruptions and their deposits and using his exceptionally keen intuition to generate major advances in understanding.
