Anne Walker

Who is Anne Walker?

Anne Walker was a British astronomer and one of the first women employed in paid routine work in astronomy in her country. She was one of a number of women computers employed at Cambridge Observatory between 1876 and 1904. Unlike most of these women, Walker remained at the observatory for a significant period of time.

Walker was born at Wickham, Suffolk in 1864. She was employed by the observatory in 1879 at the age of 15, and remained there for 24 years, working under astronomers John Couch Adams and Robert Stawell Ball. She worked most directly with the observatory's senior assistant at the time, Andrew Graham, and retired at the same time as him. The observatory necessitated that only two observers worked at any one time. Up until 1892, Walker substituted for Graham's current assistant Henry Todd when Todd's ill health prevented him from observing. From 1892, Walker became Graham's observation partner and from 1894 to 1896, she observed alone.

It has been suggested that Walker was much more than a routine computer, and that she took part in observations with Graham.