Keith R. Porter
University of Pennsylvania
June 11, 1912 - May 2, 1997
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Scientific Discipline: Cellular and Developmental Biology Membership Type:
Member
(elected 1964)
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The biologist Keith Porter began using electron microscopy in his research shortly after the technology was invented, and he used it to take the first detailed image of a eukaryotic cell. Porter went on to refine the technology and pioneer methods for using electron microscopy to study cell structures. In doing so, he established the field of cell biology.
Porter earned his PhD in biology at Harvard University in 1938 and accepted a one-year National Research Fellowship at Princeton University to continue research on embryonic development in frogs. He joined the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research in 1939, adapting his experience with embryology to study the development of cancer. It was here, during this research, that he began working with the electron microscope.
In 1961, Porter joined the faculty at Harvard University. He established the Journal of Cell Biology and helped organize the American Society for Cell Biology while continuing to elucidate the fine inner structure of cells. Porter later moved to the University of Colorado at Boulder, and he led the establishment of a high-voltage electron microscope at the university that is funded by the NIH as a national research resource. Porter received a distinguished service award from the university in 1973, and the campus building where he worked was named Porter Biosciences in his honor.
In addition to his membership in the National Academy of Sciences, Porter was a member of the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He received numerous awards and honors for his many scientific achievements.
