Arville D. Walker (August 2,1883 - August 5, 1963) was an Astronomer and Secretary at Harvard College Observatory for about 51 years.
Walker began work at the Observatory in 1906. Her work consisted of the study of variable stars and light curves of novae. She was involved in one of the earliest ‘precovery’ events for the dwarf planet Pluto. In 1914, a glass plate negative image was taken with the 16-inch Metcalf telescope, but Pluto, ‘Planet X’ at the time, went unrecognized. 18 years later in 1932, with astronomical ephemeris from a Dr. Bower of California, Constance D. Boyd inspected and measured the plate, and Miss Walker identified an object right near the limits of visibility of the plate MC6858 as Planet X/Pluto.1 A notation on the plate sleeve indicates she was involved in a break to the plate one year before.
In 1922, Walker was chosen to be Harlow Shapley’s secretary and served in that capacity until 1957.2 She features in some of the most well known images of the ‘Harvard Computers’-- group photos taken in and around the Harvard College Observatory.
According to Cecilia Payne Gaposhkin, ‘Billy’ (as she was known to her friends), was “wise, friendly, and discreet” and she knew “how to do a good job with accuracy and dispatch.” Walker was a devout Christian Scientist and apparently “never complained”. She was always “cheerful and willing”.3 Walker was something of an advisor to the younger generation working in the plate stacks, and to Payne-Gaposchkin from time to time.4
In 1958, Walker and Margaret Olmsted published a piece titled Identification Charts for 42 Variable Stars which can be found through Harvard’s HOLLIS system.
Written by Samantha Notick, 2022
Citations:
1-“1914 PHOTO OF PLUTO IS FOUND AT HARVARD.” New York Times. April 16, 1932↩2- Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, Cecilia Payne Gaposchkin: An Autobiography and Other Recollections, ed. Katherine Haramundanis (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984), 142↩
3-Payne-Gaposhkin, 142↩
4-Payne-Gaposhkin, 142↩
