Walter Marshall
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born in Rumney, Wales in 1932, Marshall studied mathematical physics at Birmingham University and gained a PhD there under Rudolf Peierls. He joined the Theoretical Physics Division at AERE Harwell in 1954, succeeding Brian Flowers as Head of that Division in 1960 and becoming Director of AERE in 1968; he eventually was appointed Chairman of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority in 1981. As a champion of nuclear power, he was appointed, in 1983, to be chairman of the Central Electricity Generating Board. For his success in keeping the country’s “lights on” during the protracted miners’ strike of 1984-5, Mrs Thatcher rewarded him with a peerage and he became Lord Marshall of Goring. In 1989, with the government’s plan to reorganise and part-privatise electricity generation, the position of Chairman of the CEGB disappeared. Lord Marshall then entered into several jobs in the private sector connected with the nuclear industry and died in 1996.
As a scientist, Marshall was recognised as one of the leading theoreticians in the atomic proerties of matter and characterised by his penetrating analytical powers. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1971.
