Walter Eric Spear (20 January 1921 – 21 February 2008)[2] was a German physicist whose work helped develop large area electronics and thin film displays.
With the support of friends and relatives in Britain, the family moved to London where he arrived in 1938 "with a small suitcase and a large cello".
[3][4] Wanting to pursue a scientific career, Spear attended evening classes for the University of London entrance examination, which he passed before the family were interned on the Isle of Man as suspected Axis sympathisers.
In 1972 Spear was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, in 1976 he was awarded the Europhysics Prize, and in 1977 the Max Born Medal by the Institute of Physics.
[3] His nomination for the Royal Society reads Professor Spear is distinguished for his experimental research over a period of nearly two decades on electronic transport in condensed matter, particularly measurements of the drift mobility.
He has determined the density of states in the gap in this material by field effect measurements and their role in photoconductivity, and has recently shown that, contrary to previous ideas, it can be doped.