Thanks to Walker, Stanford led the nation's major research universities in educating graduate students from underrepresented groups in physics. One of his graduate students was Sally Ride, America's first woman in space.
During the 1980s, senior research associate Troy Barbee at Stanford's Center for Materials Research developed a product which would revolutionize solar observations. It was a multi-layered thin film that could capture images produced by hot solar gas so energetic that it spewed radiation in the extreme ultraviolet end of the spectrum. In 1987, Arthur took these materials and developed telescopes and complex instrumentation, mounted then on rockets which were launched into space to capture the first detailed pictures of the sun's outermost atmosphere, or corona. In total, he launched 14 telescopes in NASA's first Multi-Spectral Solar Telescope Array (MSSTA) flight in 1991 and 19 telescopes in the second flight. Arthur Walker's recommendations to Congress led to the creation of a national solar observatory.
In 1986, President Ronald Reagan appointed him to serve on one of the most important committees in U.S. history, the commission that investigated the space shuttle Challenger explosion. The 13 commission members, chosen for their professional expertise in engineering, industry, law, science and flying, included Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong, former Secretary of State William Rogers, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman and Walker's former student, astronaut Sally Ride. They ultimately concluded that the disaster was preventable.
Dr. Walker also served on or chaired a number of NASA, National Science Foundation (NSF), and National Academy of Science (NAS) Committees. He chaired the Advanced Solar Observatory Science Working Group for NASA, and the Astronomy Advisory Committee of the NSF. In addition, Dr. Walker presented testimony by invitation to Congressional Committees on several occasions.
Walker served on the African and Afro-American Studies program advisory committee longer than any other member, said program director John Rickford. Although there's no formal black faculty association, but for many years Art served as its informal president. He organized an informal black faculty association that he called "The Banneker Group," and served as its president for many years. The Banneker Group fought for more black faculty, for the African and Afro-American Studies program to have its own billets and for a research institute to study race and ethnicity.
On Sept. 15, 2000, Stanford's departments of Physics and Applied Physics and the African and Afro-American Studies Program hosted a celebration in Walker's honor. It was in honor of "innovative research and inspiring teaching in physics, particularly in solar physics, as well as his exemplary contributions to the black community at Stanford," according to psychology Professor Ewart Thomas. During the event, NASA officials surprised Walker with a Distinguished Public Service Medal in recognition of 4 decades of distinguished scholarship, achievements in experimental space sciences and extensive service to NASA and the nation on many advisory and review boards.
Dr. Walker died April 29, 2001 at his home on campus after a long battle with cancer. He was 64. He is survived by his wife, Victoria T. Walker, of Stanford; daughter Heather M. M. Walker of Los Altos Hills; stepsons Nigel D. Gibbs of Los Angeles and Eric D. Gibbs of Temecula; and four grandchildren. He was also beloved by many cousins, other relatives and friends, and members of the Sigma Pi Phi fraternity (Gamma Chi Boule), of which he was a member of long standing.