A native of England, President Walker moved to Canada with his parents at an early age and lived with an aunt in Wrightsville, York County, Pennsylvania, during his high school years. At Harvard University, where he made his own way via scholarship and part-time work, he earned a B.S. in electrical engineering, an M.A. in business administration and an Sc.D. in general science and engineering. Before World War II, he was a professor and head of electrical engineering at Tufts College and the University of Connecticut. He was appointed associate director of the Underwater Sound Laboratory at Harvard early in World War II, where development of the homing torpedo was a principal mission. When a portion of the laboratory was moved to Penn State in 1945 as the Ordnance Research Laboratory, he became laboratory director and head of the Department of Electrical Engineering. He became dean of the College of Engineering and Architecture (1951), vice president for research (1956), then President of the University. He served on many professional, educational and governmental boards and agencies concerned with improving American higher education and applying its resources in the national interest. Upon his retirement from the University in 1970, Dr. Walker served for five years as vice president for science and technology of the Aluminum Company of America.