Mark Walker grew up on a small family farm in Iowa just as American agriculture was transitioning away from family farms to large-scale factory farming.
Mark Walker, the John Bigelow Professor of History, with his wife, Linda, in New York City.
Because he was on a farm, Walker, the John Bigelow Professor of History, wanted to go to college in a city. He ended up at Washington University in St. Louis, where he majored in math.
During his junior year as an exchange student at the University of Sussex in England, he took a wide range of courses and met many international students, including becoming friends with four German physics exchange students.
When he returned to the states, he began learning German.
“I also suddenly found math, or at least the level I was now studying, to be strange and difficult, which led me to shift to doing a Ph.D. in history of science and technology at Princeton University,” he said.
A chance opportunity while working in Germany led Walker to the research topic that has engaged him for 40 years: The history of the atomic bomb in wartime Nazi Germany.
He arrived on campus in 1987 and is now in his 40th year at Union.
“Over the years, I have probably lived for a total of six years in Germany, which feels like a second home,” he said. “Union is the only real job I have ever had.”
Walker lives in Queensbury with his wife, Linda. The couple has two adult children, Chris and Kerry, who both live and work nearby.
FIRST APP YOU LOOK AT IN THE MORNING: I read my email, then check the weather and my calendar for the day.
WHAT ARE YOU READING: Scholarly literature on the history of Nazism.
WHAT ARE YOU STREAMING: YouTube and PBS.
BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU RECEIVED: My mother told me that: “Life is not fair.”
ONE SKILL YOU WISH YOU HAD: Being able to speak and read more languages.
THREE DINNER PARTY GUESTS (living or deceased): A Neanderthal, a Native American from before Columbus and a medieval European peasant; to hear their varied perspectives on life.
LITTLE KNOWN FACT ABOUT YOU: I failed my comprehensive exams in graduate school (rather spectacularly), but passed them the second time around.
FAVORITE UNION MEMORY/EXPERIENCE: After the passing of my colleague, Fred Jonas, who had retired some years before, together with his family the History Department held a moving celebration of his life and work at Union.
I USE AI FOR: Answering questions, but I often check the responses.
WHAT WOULD YOU TELL YOUR YOUNGER SELF: If I am telling you this, then we have at least made it this far.
