Rodney Robert Porter

English biochemist and Nobel laureate

Rodney Porter

Born|

Rodney Robert Porter

(1917-10-08)8 October 1917

Newton-le-Willows, Lancashire, England

Died| 6 September 1985(1985-09-06) (aged 67)
Alma mater|

* University of Liverpool (BSc)
* University of Cambridge (PhD)

Known for| Chemical structure of antibodies
Awards|

* FRS (1964)[1]
* Gairdner Foundation International Award (1966)
* Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1972)
* Royal Medal (1973)
* Copley Medal (1983)

Scientific career
Fields| Biochemistry
Institutions|

* National Institute for Medical Research
* Imperial College London
* University of Oxford

Thesis| The free amino groups of proteins (1948)
Doctoral advisor| Frederick Sanger[2]

Prof Rodney Robert Porter, CH, FRS[1] FRSE HFRCP (8 October 1917 – 6 September 1985) was a British biochemist[3][4] and Nobel laureate.[5][6][7]

## Education and early life

[edit]

He was born in Newton-le-Willows, Lancashire, England, the son of Joseph Lawrence Porter, chief clerk of the Railway Carriage and Wagon Works in Earlestown (Newton-le-Willows), and his wife, Isabel May Reese. He was educated at Ashton-in-Makerfield Grammar School.[8]

Rodney Robert Porter received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Liverpool in 1939 for Biochemistry.

His career was interrupted by World War II during which he served as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers serving in Sicily and North Africa. In 1944 he was promoted to Major and transferred to the Royal Army Service Corps acting as a War Department analyst, based in Naples in Italy.[9]

After the war he moved to the University of Cambridge where he became Fred Sanger's first PhD student.[2] He was awarded his doctorate (PhD) in 1948.[10][11]

## Career and research

[edit]

Porter worked for the National Institute for Medical Research for eleven years (1949–1960) before joining St. Mary's Hospital Medical School, Imperial College London and becoming the Pfizer Professor of Immunology. In 1967 he was appointed Whitley Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Oxford, and Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford. His colleague Elizabeth Press (Betty Press) worked with him at NIMR, St Mary's and at Oxford contributing extensively to the work which led to the Nobel Prize.

## Awards and honours

[edit]

Porter was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1964.[1] He won the Gairdner Foundation International Award in 1966.[12] In 1972, Porter shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Gerald M. Edelman for determining the chemical structure of an antibody.[13][14][15][16][17] Using the enzyme papain, he broke the blood's immunoglobin into fragments, making them easier to study. He also looked into how the blood's immunoglobins react with cellular surfaces. He subsequently worked with colleagues Kenneth BM Reid, Robert Sim and Duncan Campbell on developing understanding of the Complement Proteins associated with defence against infection.

In 1991, Raymond Dwek founded the Oxford Glycobiology Institute at the Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford and this building was named after Porter as the Rodney Porter building. The department organises the Rodney Porter Memorial Lecture every year.

## Family

[edit]

In 1948 he married Julia New. They had five children together.

## Death

[edit]

Porter died following a four-car accident on 6 September 1985, near Beacon Hill outside Guildford, as the driver of one of the cars. Julia was only slightly injured in the accident. They had been en route to France for a holiday, just prior to his formal retirement.[18]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c Perry, S. V. (1987). "Rodney Robert Porter. 8 October 1917-6 September 1985". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 33: 445–89. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1987.0017. JSTOR 769960. PMID 11621436.
2. ^ a b "Rodney Porter Memorial Lectures". Oxford: University of Oxford. Archived from the original on 4 January 2015.
3. ^ Johnstone, A. P.; Kerr, M. A.; Turner, M. W. (1985). "Rodney Robert Porter (1917–1985)". Journal of Immunological Methods. 85 (1): 1–4. Bibcode:1985Natur.317..383S. doi:10.1016/0022-1759(85)90268-6. PMID 3908556.
4. ^ Steiner, L. A. (1985). "Rodney Robert Porter (1917–1985)". Nature. 317 (6036): 383. Bibcode:1985Natur.317..383S. doi:10.1038/317383a0. PMID 3900741. S2CID 4334421.
5. ^ Raju, T. N. (1999). "The Nobel chronicles. 1972: Gerald M Edelman (b 1929) and Rodney R Porter (1917–85)". Lancet. 354 (9183): 1040. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(05)76658-7. PMID 10501404. S2CID 54380536.
6. ^ Schlesinger, M. (1973). "The 1972 Nobel prize for medicine, G.M. Adelman and R.R. Porter". Harefuah. 84 (1): 41. PMID 4571222.
7. ^ Harboe, M. (1972). "Nobel prize for immunoglobulin research". Tidsskrift for den Norske Laegeforening. 92 (34): 2363–2365. PMID 4568120.
8. ^ Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0-902-198-84-X.
9. ^ Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0-902-198-84-X.
10. ^ Britannica Information on Rodney Porter
11. ^ Rodney R. Porter on Nobelprize.org , accessed 11 October 2020
12. ^ "Rodney R. Porter". Gairdner Foundation. Retrieved 8 August 2022.
13. ^ Kyle, R A; Shampo M A (November 2000). "R.R. Porter—the 4-chain structure of immunoglobulin G". Mayo Clin. Proc. 75 (11): 1110. doi:10.4065/75.11.1110. PMID 11075737.
14. ^ "Proceedings of the International Symposium on "The role and significance of international cooperation in the biomedical sciences." Dedicated to the memory of Dr. Rodney R. Porter. Washington, D.C., September 21–23, 1983". Perspect. Biol. Med. 29 (3 Pt 2): S1–229. 1986. PMID 3523420.
15. ^ Small, P A (1985). "Rod Porter: his gifts to a young scientist". Biosci. Rep. 5 (10–11): 969–71. doi:10.1007/BF01119909. PMID 3913473. S2CID 10952281.
16. ^ Pasternak, C A (1985). "Rodney Robert Porter". Biosci. Rep. 5 (10–11): 809–13. doi:10.1007/BF01119892. PMID 3913470. S2CID 43082617.
17. ^ Pasternak, Charles A. (1985). "Special issue in memory of Rodney Porter". Biosci. Rep. 5 (10–11): 809–1014. doi:10.1007/bf01119892. PMID 3913469. S2CID 43082617.
18. ^ Los Angeles Times: 13 September 1985

## External links

[edit]

* Rodney R. Porter on Nobelprize.org

* v
* t
* e

Laureates of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

1901–1925|

* 1901: Emil Behring
* 1902: Ronald Ross
* 1903: Niels Finsen
* 1904: Ivan Pavlov
* 1905: Robert Koch
* 1906: Camillo Golgi / Santiago Ramón y Cajal
* 1907: Alphonse Laveran
* 1908: Élie Metchnikoff / Paul Ehrlich
* 1909: Emil Kocher
* 1910: Albrecht Kossel
* 1911: Allvar Gullstrand
* 1912: Alexis Carrel
* 1913: Charles Richet
* 1914: Róbert Bárány
* 1915
* 1916
* 1917
* 1918
* 1919: Jules Bordet
* 1920: August Krogh
* 1921
* 1922: Archibald Hill / Otto Meyerhof
* 1923: Frederick Banting / John Macleod
* 1924: Willem Einthoven
* 1925

1926–1950|

* 1926: Johannes Fibiger
* 1927: Julius Wagner-Jauregg
* 1928: Charles Nicolle
* 1929: Christiaan Eijkman / Frederick Gowland Hopkins
* 1930: Karl Landsteiner
* 1931: Otto Warburg
* 1932: Charles Scott Sherrington / Edgar Adrian
* 1933: Thomas Morgan
* 1934: George Whipple / George Minot / William Murphy
* 1935: Hans Spemann
* 1936: Henry Dale / Otto Loewi
* 1937: Albert Szent-Györgyi
* 1938: Corneille Heymans
* 1939: Gerhard Domagk
* 1940
* 1941
* 1942
* 1943: Henrik Dam / Edward Doisy
* 1944: Joseph Erlanger / Herbert Gasser
* 1945: Alexander Fleming / Ernst Chain / Howard Florey
* 1946: Hermann Muller
* 1947: Carl Cori / Gerty Cori / Bernardo Houssay
* 1948: Paul Müller
* 1949: Walter Hess / António Egas Moniz
* 1950: Edward Kendall / Tadeusz Reichstein / Philip Hench

1951–1975|

* 1951: Max Theiler
* 1952: Selman Waksman
* 1953: Hans Krebs / Fritz Lipmann
* 1954: John Enders / Thomas Weller / Frederick Robbins
* 1955: Hugo Theorell
* 1956: André Cournand / Werner Forssmann / Dickinson W. Richards
* 1957: Daniel Bovet
* 1958: George Beadle / Edward Tatum / Joshua Lederberg
* 1959: Severo Ochoa / Arthur Kornberg
* 1960: Frank Burnet / Peter Medawar
* 1961: Georg von Békésy
* 1962: Francis Crick / James Watson / Maurice Wilkins
* 1963: John Eccles / Alan Hodgkin / Andrew Huxley
* 1964: Konrad Bloch / Feodor Lynen
* 1965: François Jacob / André Lwoff / Jacques Monod
* 1966: Francis Rous / Charles B. Huggins
* 1967: Ragnar Granit / Haldan Hartline / George Wald
* 1968: Robert W. Holley / Har Khorana / Marshall Nirenberg
* 1969: Max Delbrück / Alfred Hershey / Salvador Luria
* 1970: Bernard Katz / Ulf von Euler / Julius Axelrod
* 1971: Earl Sutherland Jr.
* 1972: Gerald Edelman / Rodney Porter
* 1973: Karl von Frisch / Konrad Lorenz / Nikolaas Tinbergen
* 1974: Albert Claude / Christian de Duve / George Palade
* 1975: David Baltimore / Renato Dulbecco / Howard Temin

1976–2000|

* 1976: Baruch Blumberg / Daniel Gajdusek
* 1977: Roger Guillemin / Andrew Schally / Rosalyn Yalow
* 1978: Werner Arber / Daniel Nathans / Hamilton O. Smith
* 1979: Allan Cormack / Godfrey Hounsfield
* 1980: Baruj Benacerraf / Jean Dausset / George Snell
* 1981: Roger Sperry / David H. Hubel / Torsten Wiesel
* 1982: Sune Bergström / Bengt I. Samuelsson / John Vane
* 1983: Barbara McClintock
* 1984: Niels Jerne / Georges Köhler / César Milstein
* 1985: Michael Brown / Joseph L. Goldstein
* 1986: Stanley Cohen / Rita Levi-Montalcini
* 1987: Susumu Tonegawa
* 1988: James W. Black / Gertrude B. Elion / George H. Hitchings
* 1989: J. Michael Bishop / Harold E. Varmus
* 1990: Joseph Murray / E. Donnall Thomas
* 1991: Erwin Neher / Bert Sakmann
* 1992: Edmond Fischer / Edwin G. Krebs
* 1993: Richard J. Roberts / Phillip Sharp
* 1994: Alfred G. Gilman / Martin Rodbell
* 1995: Edward B. Lewis / Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard / Eric F. Wieschaus
* 1996: Peter C. Doherty / Rolf M. Zinkernagel
* 1997: Stanley B. Prusiner
* 1998: Robert F. Furchgott / Louis Ignarro / Ferid Murad
* 1999: Günter Blobel
* 2000: Arvid Carlsson / Paul Greengard / Eric Kandel

2001–present|

* 2001: Leland H. Hartwell / Tim Hunt / Paul Nurse
* 2002: Sydney Brenner / H. Robert Horvitz / John E. Sulston
* 2003: Paul Lauterbur / Peter Mansfield
* 2004: Richard Axel / Linda B. Buck
* 2005: Barry Marshall / Robin Warren
* 2006: Andrew Fire / Craig Mello
* 2007: Mario Capecchi / Martin Evans / Oliver Smithies
* 2008: Harald zur Hausen / Luc Montagnier / Françoise Barré-Sinoussi
* 2009: Elizabeth Blackburn / Carol W. Greider / Jack W. Szostak
* 2010: Robert G. Edwards
* 2011: Bruce Beutler / Jules A. Hoffmann / Ralph M. Steinman (posthumously)
* 2012: John Gurdon / Shinya Yamanaka
* 2013: James Rothman / Randy Schekman / Thomas C. Südhof
* 2014: John O'Keefe / May-Britt Moser / Edvard Moser
* 2015: William C. Campbell / Satoshi Ōmura / Tu Youyou
* 2016: Yoshinori Ohsumi
* 2017: Jeffrey C. Hall / Michael Rosbash / Michael W. Young
* 2018: James P. Allison / Tasuku Honjo
* 2019: Gregg L. Semenza / Peter J. Ratcliffe / William Kaelin Jr.
* 2020: Harvey J. Alter / Michael Houghton / Charles M. Rice
* 2021: David Julius / Ardem Patapoutian
* 2022: Svante Pääbo
* 2023: Katalin Karikó / Drew Weissman

* v
* t
* e

1972 Nobel Prize laureates

Chemistry|

* Christian B. Anfinsen (United States)
* Stanford Moore (United States)
* William Howard Stein (United States)

Literature (1972)|

* Heinrich Böll (Germany)

Peace|

* None

Physics|

* John Bardeen (United States)
* Leon Cooper (United States)
* John Robert Schrieffer (United States)

Physiology or Medicine|

* Gerald Edelman (United States)
* Rodney Robert Porter (United Kingdom)

Economic Sciences|

* John Hicks (United Kingdom)
* Kenneth Arrow (United States)

Nobel Prize recipients
1967
1968
1969
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977

* v
* t
* e

Copley Medallists (1951–2000)

* David Keilin (1951)
* Paul Dirac (1952)
* Albert Kluyver (1953)
* E. T. Whittaker (1954)
* Ronald Fisher (1955)
* Patrick Blackett (1956)
* Howard Florey (1957)
* John Edensor Littlewood (1958)
* Macfarlane Burnet (1959)
* Harold Jeffreys (1960)
* Hans Krebs (1961)
* Cyril Norman Hinshelwood (1962)
* Paul Fildes (1963)
* Sydney Chapman (1964)
* Alan Hodgkin (1965)
* Lawrence Bragg (1966)
* Bernard Katz (1967)
* Tadeusz Reichstein (1968)
* Peter Medawar (1969)
* Alexander R. Todd (1970)
* Norman Pirie (1971)
* Nevill Francis Mott (1972)
* Andrew Huxley (1973)
* W. V. D. Hodge (1974)
* Francis Crick (1975)
* Dorothy Hodgkin (1976)
* Frederick Sanger (1977)
* Robert Burns Woodward (1978)
* Max Perutz (1979)
* Derek Barton (1980)
* Peter D. Mitchell (1981)
* John Cornforth (1982)
* Rodney Robert Porter (1983)
* Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (1984)
* Aaron Klug (1985)
* Rudolf Peierls (1986)
* Robin Hill (1987)
* Michael Atiyah (1988)
* César Milstein (1989)
* Abdus Salam (1990)
* Sydney Brenner (1991)
* George Porter (1992)
* James D. Watson (1993)
* Frederick Charles Frank (1994)
* Frank Fenner (1995)
* Alan Cottrell (1996)
* Hugh Huxley (1997)
* James Lighthill (1998)
* John Maynard Smith (1999)
* Alan Battersby (2000)

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