George Porter

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For other people named George Porter, see George Porter (disambiguation). For other people with the title of Lord Porter, see Lord Porter (disambiguation).

FRSE
Born
George Porter

(1920-12-06)6 December 1920
Stainforth
, England
Died31 August 2002(2002-08-31) (aged 81)
Alma mater
(
PhD)
Known forFlash photolysis
SpouseStella Jean Brooke (since 1949)[4]
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsChemistry
Institutions
Ronald Norrish
Doctoral students

George Porter, Baron Porter of Luddenham,

FRSE (6 December 1920 – 31 August 2002) was a British chemist.[5] He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
in 1967.

Education and early life

Porter was born in

free radicals produced by photochemical means.[7] He would later become a fellow at Emmanuel College, Cambridge.[8]

Career and research

Porter served in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve during the Second World War. Porter then went on to do research at the University of Cambridge supervised by Ronald George Wreyford Norrish where he began the work that ultimately led to them becoming Nobel Laureates.

His original research in developing the technique of

light-dependent reactions of photosynthesis, with particular regard to possible applications to a hydrogen economy
, of which he was a strong advocate.

He was Assistant Director of the British Rayon Research Association from 1953 to 1954, where he studied the phototendering of dyed cellulose fabrics in sunlight.[9]

Porter served as professor in the Chemistry department at the University of Sheffield in 1954–65. It was here he started his work on flash photolysis with equipment designed and made in the departmental workshop. During this tenure he also took part in a television programme describing his work. This was in the "Eye on Research" series. Porter became Fullerian Professor of Chemistry and Director of the Royal Institution in 1966. During his directorship of the Royal Institution, Porter was instrumental in the setting up of Applied Photophysics, a company created to supply instrumentation based on his group's work. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1967 along with Manfred Eigen and Ronald George Wreyford Norrish.[10] In the same year he became a visiting professor at University College London.[10]

Porter was a major contributor to the

British Association in 1985 and was the founding Chair of the Committee on the Public Understanding of Science (COPUS). He gave the Romanes Lecture, entitled "Science and the human purpose", at the University of Oxford in 1978; and in 1988 he gave the Dimbleby Lecture, "Knowledge itself is power." From 1990 to 1993 he gave the Gresham lectures
in astronomy.

Awards and honours

Porter was elected a

Ellison-Cliffe Medal in 1991 and the Copley Medal
in 1992.

Porter also received an Honorary Doctorate from Heriot-Watt University in 1971.[13]

He was knighted in 1972, appointed to the Order of Merit in 1989,[14] and was made a life peer as Baron Porter of Luddenham, of Luddenham in the County of Kent, in 1990. In 1995, he was awarded an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Laws) from the University of Bath.[15]

In 1976 he gave the Royal Institution Christmas Lecture on The Natural History of a Sunbeam.[16]

Porter served as

George Porter Building
in his honour.

Family

In 1949 Porter married Stella Jean Brooke.

Publications

  • Chemistry for the Modern World (1962)
  • Chemistry in Microtime (1996)

See also

References

  1. ^
    ISSN 0080-4606
    .
  2. PMID 4860395
    .
  3. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.573962. Free access icon
  4. ^ "The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1967".
  5. S2CID 30532134
    .
  6. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/77183. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  7. ^ Porter, George (1949). The study of free radicals produced by photochemical means (PhD thesis). University of Cambridge.
  8. ^ "The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1967". NobelPrize.org. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
  9. ^ David Phillips The Biography of George Porter Archived 17 January 2013 at the Wayback Machine. icpress.co.uk
  10. ^ a b "George Porter – Biography". Nobel Media. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  11. ^ "George Porter". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  12. ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  13. ^ "Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh: Honorary Graduates". www1.hw.ac.uk. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  14. ^ "Science/Nature Obituary: Lord Porter". BBC Online. BBC News. 2 September 2002. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
  15. ^ "Honorary Graduates 1989 to present". bath.ac.uk. University of Bath. Retrieved 18 February 2012.
  16. ^ "George Porter – Famous Experiments", Ri Channel video, 6 December 1985 Archived 28 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine

External links

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Cultural offices
Preceded by
William Lawrence Bragg
 Director of the Royal Institution
1966–1986 		Succeeded by
Academic offices
Preceded by
Sir Alan Hodgkin
 3rd Chancellor of the University of Leicester
1984–1995 		Succeeded by
Professional and academic associations
Preceded by 56th President of the Royal Society
1985–1990 		Succeeded by
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