Walker, Alan (Cyril) (1938– )

English-born US physical anthropologist. His extensive field research on the evolutionary implications of Kenyan fossils includes his discoveries of a 1.6-million-year-old Homo erectus in 1984, and a 2.5-million-year-old ‘hyper-robust’ Australopithecus boisei in 1985.

Walker was born in Leicester, England. He lived and worked in Africa before going to the USA in 1973. He taught at Harvard University 1973–78, then joined Johns Hopkins University in 1978.