George Porter (1920-2002)

Awarded the Prize “for his studies of extremely fast chemical reactions, effected by disturbing the equlibrium by means of very short pulses of energy.”

British chemist. Porter was born on December 6, 1920 at Stainforth in Yorkshire. He was educated at the universities of Leeds Cambridge where he obtained his Ph.D. After World War II, he returned to Cambridge until, in 1955, he was appointed Professor of Chemistry at Sheffield University. From 1966 until 1985 he was Director of the Royal Institution the Fullerian Professorship of Chemistry. In 1987 he was appointed Professor (from 1990, chairman) of the Centre for Photomolecular Science at Imperial College, London. Porter died on August 31, 2002 in Canterbury, Engl.