George Porter
Encyclopedia
George Hornidge Porter, Baron Porter of Luddenham, OM
, FRS (6 December 1920 – 31 August 2002) was a British
chemist
.
, near Thorne, South Yorkshire. He was educated at Thorne Grammar School, then won a scholarship to the University of Leeds
and gained his first degree
in chemistry
. He then served in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve
during the Second World War
.
Porter then went on to do research at Cambridge
under Norrish
where he began the work that ultimately led to them becoming Nobel Laureates
.
His original research in developing the technique of flash photolysis
to obtain information on short-lived molecular species provided the first evidence of free radicals
. His later research utilised the technique to study the minutiae of the light 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 1953-4, where he studied the phototendering of dyed cellulose fabrics in sunlight.
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
. In the same year he became a Visiting Professor at University College London
.
Porter was president of the Royal Society
1985–1990, having been elected a Fellow in 1960 and also winning the Davy Medal
in 1971, the Rumford Medal
in 1978, the Ellison-Cliffe Medal in 1991 and the Copley Medal
in 1992. He was knighted
in 1972 and was made a life peer
as Baron Porter of Luddenham, of Luddenham in the County of Kent
, in 1990.
Porter was a major contributor to the public understanding of science
. He became president of 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.
Porter served as Chancellor
of the University of Leicester
between 1984 and 1995. In 2001, the University's chemistry building was named the George Porter Building in his honour.
Order of Merit
The Order of Merit is a British dynastic order recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture...
, FRS (6 December 1920 – 31 August 2002) was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
chemist
Chemist
A chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density and acidity. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms...
.
Life
Porter was born in StainforthStainforth, South Yorkshire
Stainforth is a small town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster, in South Yorkshire, England. It is located roughly north-east of Doncaster, close to Hatfield and Thorne. It has a population of 6,342.-Etymology:...
, near Thorne, South Yorkshire. He was educated at Thorne Grammar School, then won a scholarship to the University of Leeds
University of Leeds
The University of Leeds is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
and gained his first degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
. He then served in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve
Royal Naval Reserve
The Royal Naval Reserve is the volunteer reserve force of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. The present Royal Naval Reserve was formed in 1958 by merging the original Royal Naval Reserve and the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve , a reserve of civilian volunteers founded in 1903...
during the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Porter then went on to do research at Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
under Norrish
Ronald George Wreyford Norrish
Ronald George Wreyford Norrish was a British chemist. He was born in Cambridge and attended The Perse School. He was a former student of Eric Rideal...
where he began the work that ultimately led to them becoming Nobel Laureates
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
.
His original research in developing the technique of flash photolysis
Flash photolysis
Flash photolysis is a pump-probe laboratory technique, in which a sample is firstly excited by a strong pulse of light from a laser of nanosecond, picosecond, or femtosecond pulse width or by a short-pulse light source such as a flash lamp...
to obtain information on short-lived molecular species provided the first evidence of free radicals
Radical (chemistry)
Radicals are atoms, molecules, or ions with unpaired electrons on an open shell configuration. Free radicals may have positive, negative, or zero charge...
. His later research utilised the technique to study the minutiae of the light reactions of photosynthesis
Photosynthesis
Photosynthesis is a chemical process that converts carbon dioxide into organic compounds, especially sugars, using the energy from sunlight. Photosynthesis occurs in plants, algae, and many species of bacteria, but not in archaea. Photosynthetic organisms are called photoautotrophs, since they can...
, with particular regard to possible applications to a hydrogen economy
Hydrogen economy
The hydrogen economy is a proposed system of delivering energy using hydrogen. The term hydrogen economy was coined by John Bockris during a talk he gave in 1970 at General Motors Technical Center....
, of which he was a strong advocate.
He was Assistant Director of the British Rayon Research Association
British Rayon Research Association
The British Rayon Research Association was a research institute formed in 1946 by the British Rayon Federation and others. It was funded by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research and by voluntary funds from industry to investigate the chemical and physical properties of rayon and...
from 1953-4, where he studied the phototendering of dyed cellulose fabrics in sunlight.
Porter became Fullerian Professor of Chemistry
Fullerian Professor of Chemistry
The Fullerian Chairs at the Royal Institution were established by John 'Mad Jack' Fuller.-Fullerian Professors of Chemistry:*1833 Michael Faraday* 1868 William Odling* 1874 John Hall Gladstone* 1877 James Dewar* 1923 William Henry Bragg* 1942 Henry H...
and Director of the Royal Institution
Royal Institution
The Royal Institution of Great Britain is an organization devoted to scientific education and research, based in London.-Overview:...
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
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
in Chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
in 1967 along with Manfred Eigen
Manfred Eigen
Manfred Eigen is a German biophysical chemist who won the 1967 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for work on measuring fast chemical reactions.-Career:...
and Ronald George Wreyford Norrish
Ronald George Wreyford Norrish
Ronald George Wreyford Norrish was a British chemist. He was born in Cambridge and attended The Perse School. He was a former student of Eric Rideal...
. In the same year he became a Visiting Professor at University College London
University College London
University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...
.
Porter was president of the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
1985–1990, having been elected a Fellow in 1960 and also winning the Davy Medal
Davy Medal
The Davy Medal is awarded by the Royal Society of London "for an outstandingly important recent discovery in any branch of chemistry". Named after Humphry Davy, the medal is awarded with a gift of £1000. The medal was first awarded in 1877 to Robert Wilhelm Bunsen and Gustav Robert Kirchhoff "for...
in 1971, the Rumford Medal
Rumford Medal
The Rumford Medal is awarded by the Royal Society every alternating year for "an outstandingly important recent discovery in the field of thermal or optical properties of matter made by a scientist working in Europe". First awarded in 1800, it was created after a 1796 donation of $5000 by the...
in 1978, the Ellison-Cliffe Medal in 1991 and the Copley Medal
Copley Medal
The Copley Medal is an award given by the Royal Society of London for "outstanding achievements in research in any branch of science, and alternates between the physical sciences and the biological sciences"...
in 1992. He was knighted
Knight Bachelor
The rank of Knight Bachelor is a part of the British honours system. It is the most basic rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not as a member of one of the organised Orders of Chivalry...
in 1972 and was made a life peer
Life peer
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the Peerage whose titles cannot be inherited. Nowadays life peerages, always of baronial rank, are created under the Life Peerages Act 1958 and entitle the holders to seats in the House of Lords, presuming they meet qualifications such as...
as Baron Porter of Luddenham, of Luddenham in the County of Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, in 1990.
Porter was a major contributor to the public understanding of science
Public awareness of science
Public awareness of science , also public understanding of science , is a term relating to the attitudes, behaviours, opinions and activities that comprise the relations between the general public or lay society as a whole to scientific knowledge and organisation.It is a comparatively new approach...
. He became president of 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
Romanes Lecture
The Romanes Lecture is a prestigious free public lecture given annually at the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, England.The lecture series was founded by, and named after, the biologist George Romanes, and has been running since 1892. Over the years, many notable figures from the Arts and Sciences have...
, entitled "Science and the human purpose", at the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
in 1978; and in 1988 he gave the Dimbleby Lecture
Richard Dimbleby Lecture
The Richard Dimbleby Lecture was founded in the memory of Richard Dimbleby, the BBC broadcaster. It has been delivered by an influential business or political figure almost every year since 1972 ....
, "Knowledge itself is power". From 1990 to 1993 he gave the Gresham lectures
Gresham College
Gresham College is an institution of higher learning located at Barnard's Inn Hall off Holborn in central London, England. It was founded in 1597 under the will of Sir Thomas Gresham and today it hosts over 140 free public lectures every year within the City of London.-History:Sir Thomas Gresham,...
in astronomy.
Porter served as Chancellor
Chancellor (education)
A chancellor or vice-chancellor is the chief executive of a university. Other titles are sometimes used, such as president or rector....
of the University of Leicester
University of Leicester
The University of Leicester is a research-led university based in Leicester, England. The main campus is a mile south of the city centre, adjacent to Victoria Park and Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth I College....
between 1984 and 1995. In 2001, the University's chemistry building was named the George Porter Building in his honour.
See also
- Gresham Professor of AstronomyGresham Professor of AstronomyThe Professor of Astronomy at Gresham College, London, gives free educational lectures to the general public. The college was founded for this purpose in 1596 / 7, when it appointed seven professors; this has since increased to eight and in addition the college now has visiting professors.The...
- Fullerian Professorships
External links
- Profile – Royal Institution of Great Britain
- The Lord Porter of Luddenham (PDF) – Biographical memoirs, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 149, no. 1, March 2005
- The Life and Scientific Legacy of George Porter, World Scientific Publishing, 2006
- Obituary in The Guardian, 3 September 2002
- Biographical Database of the British Chemical Community, 1880-1970
- "The Relevance of Science". George Porter. JASAJASAJASA, as an initialism, stands for:*Japan-America Security Alliance, signed in 1951*Journal of the Acoustical Society of America*Journal of the American Statistical Association*The JASA Brand of Disposable food packaging products in Malaysia...
Vol. 28. March 1976. pp. 2–3. (includes editorial responses from astronomer Owen GingerichOwen GingerichDr. Owen Jay Gingerich is a former Research Professor of Astronomy and of the History of Science at Harvard University, and a senior astronomer emeritus at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory...
and theologian Bernard RammBernard RammBernard L. Ramm was a Baptist theologian and apologist within the broad Evangelical tradition. He wrote prolifically on topics concerned with biblical hermeneutics, religion and science, Christology, and apologetics...
amongst others)