Person PX1970 Walker; Cyril Alexander (1939-2009) Walker Cyril Alexander 1939-2009 Born west London 8 February 1939. Died 6 May 2009.

Museum Staff: joined the staff of the Palaeontology Department at South Kensington as a scientific assistant in May 1958 working mainly on fossil birds. Appointed curator of fossil birds in 1972. Discovered a hitherto unknown subclass of birds, Enantiornithes, publishing his findings in 'Nature' in 1981. One of the five co-authors of a 1986 paper which refuted allegations that the feathers on the Berlin and London fossil specimens of Archaeopteryx were 19th-century forgeries. Planned the move of the Museum's storage facility from Ruislip to Wandsworth 1990-1995. Transferred to the Bird Group at Tring in mid February 1996. In 1997 he organised the move of the mounted specimen collection from the 'Annexe' in Akeman Street to Wandsworth. He also carried out a survey in 1997 for the proposed re-location of the bird collections, library and staff to South Kensington; a proposal which was later abandoned. Walker retired at the end of April 1998. Fellow of the Linnaean Society and Royal Geographical Society; member of the British Ornithological Union, the Flora and Fauna Preservation Society and the RSPB. Obituary, London Naturalist 88, 2009: 229-230; obituary, Daily Telegraph, 19 May 2009. Yes Idealist Import 4namepers.txt 28/02/2004 NHM\laurb5 09/11/2018 10bd63f3-8fd0-48ff-8f13-e3f19c86bdd9