Paul Walker 1934-1959

Abstract

Paul was a research scientist who had worked for the Arctic Institute in the Arctic and the Antarctic. He was born in California and graduated from Occidental College, Los Angeles in 1956, majoring in geology. He had visited Alaska and already spent one summer in Greenland before graduating. On leaving college he took part in the work at Red Rock Lake, Greenland, helping to map shear zones in ice cliffs. In October 1956 he went to Antarctica to participate in the I.G.Y. program. Based at Ellsworth Station he worked on the Filchner Ice Shelf, and was selected to go with the traverse party, which covered 1,100 miles in 80 days in the area south and west of the base. returned to the U.S. in 1958 to help with the compilation and analysis of glaciological and geological data from Antarctica that was being undertaken at Ohio State University. In 1959 he was appointed glaciologist with the U.S.A.F. Ellesmere Island Ice Shelf Project. He went into the field with the party in May and in early August was paralysed by a brain seizure. Flown out by light aircraft on August 10, 1959, he was taken to California. An operation brought only temporary relief and he died after great suffering, paralyzed and nearly blind, in hospital a few months later. Paul was young scientist of great promise, a hard and careful worker in the field, and the best of companions. His death is a great loss in a very real way to the polar world he loved. The Canadian Board on Geographical Names has approved the name Walker Hill for the prominent l400-foot feature on Ward Hunt Island, named in commemoration of Paul by his companions.