Walter Eric Spear

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] In 1980 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London and awarded the Makdougall Brisbane Prize of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.^[8] In 1988 he was awarded the Rank Prize, and the same year presented the Royal Society Bakerian Lecture. In 1990 he was awarded their Rumford Medal, and he retired soon afterwards.^[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. His work was the first to establish an activated mobility of polaron type in a molecular crystal (sulphur), and a mobility edge in a non-crystalline material (glow discharge deposited silicon). 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. His work is characterised by high experimental skill, felicitous choice of materials and full theoretical understanding.^[9]

Spear's archives are held by Archive Services, University of Dundee.^[6][10] As well as including academic works by Spear and notes for talks and lectures, they include Spear's ‘Scientific Curiosities and Absurdities’ file which features some of the more unusual correspondence Spear received.^[6][11]

Spear's mother was a professional violinist and teacher. Spear inherited a 17h century Italian cello while a boy and received cello lessons from the age of 8. He was an amateur cellist throughout his life. His father, David Spear, was a graphic artist who later became a photographer.^[3]

Spear was survived by his widow, born Hilda D. King, whom he had married in Middlesex in 1952,^[12] by the couple's two daughters and their children.^[3]