Rodney Robert Porter

Rodney Robert Porter (8 October 1917 – 7 September 1985) was an English biochemist.

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Born in Newton-le-Willows, St Helens, Lancashire, England, Rodney Robert Porter received his Bachelors of Sciences--with Honours--from the University of Liverpool in 1939 for Biochemistry, going on to receive his Ph. D. in the field from the University of Cambridge in 1948.

He worked for the National Institute of Medical Research for eleven years (1949-1960) before joining St. Mary's Hospital Medical School--University of London--and becoming the Pfizer Professor of Immunology.

In 1967 he was appointed Whitley Professor of Biochemistry to Oxford University.

In 1972, Porter shared the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology with Gerald M. Edelman for determining the exact chemical structure of an antibody. Using an enzyme called papain, he broke the blood's immunoglobin into pieces, making them easier to study. He also looked into how the blood's immunoglobins react with cellular surfaces.

He died in a road accident near Winchester, Hampshire and is survived by his wife and five children.