Born Oct. 6, 1903, in Dungarvan, County Waterford, Ireland. Irish physicist.

Walton was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and the University of Cambridge. From 1927 to 1934 he worked as a scientist at the Cavendish Laboratory. In 1934 he joined the faculty of Trinity College and became a professor there in 1946. Together with J. D. Cockcroft he designed and built (1932) the first proton accelerator, with a power rating of 700 million electron volts (MeV). Walton was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1951.