Download Arthur Porter Born: 8 December, 1910 – Ulverton, England Died: 26

Arthur Porter
Born: 8 December, 1910 – Ulverton, England
Died: 26 February, 2010 – Winston-Salem, NC, USA
Significant Achievements
 Known for his considerable work in various aspects of engineering including control theory,
servo mechanisms, and industrial engineering
 Responsible for the creation of Canada’s first two university biomedical programs, the first being
at the University of Saskatchewan (formed with the input of Dr. William Feindel and Norman
Moody) and the second at the University of Toronto (with E. Llewellyn-Thomas and Norman
Moody)
 His papers on time-lag in a control system had significant impact in the field of automatic
control systems and were essential to the advancement in mechanization and automation of
processes and equipment in the 20th century
 Built one of the first analog computers in the world, the first built outside of the United States—
the original is currently on display at the National Science Museum in London, UK
 During his time at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Porter was part of the team
that created the Rockefeller Differential Analyzer, which would ultimately contribute to the
Manhattan Project
 Developed the Porter-Stoneman converter system, which remains in use today in air traffic
control and space exploration technology
 During the 1960s, Porter played an important part in the design of a satellite communications
system in Northern Ontario
 Wrote Cybernetics Simplified, one of the first books to give an overview on how computers work
Education
 B. Sc. (Physics), University of Manchester, 1933
 PhD., University of Manchester, 1936
 Commonwealth Fund Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1937-39
Career










Admiralty Research Laboratories, pre-1939
Designer, Malvern Research Laboratories, c. 1942
Designer, Servo Panel, London, c. 1943
MIT servo Laboratory and Bell Telephone Laboratories, c. 1945
Metrology Division, National Physical Laboratory (UK)
Professor of Instrument Technology, Royal Military College of Science (UK)
Head, Research Department, Ferranti Electric, Toronto, c. 1955
Chair of Light Electrical Engineering, Imperial College, c. 1955
Dean of Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, 1958
Chair, Industrial Engineering Department, University of Toronto, 1962





Director, Centre for Culture and Technology, University of Toronto, 1967-68
Scientific Advisor to the Board of Directors for what became the Ontario Science Centre
Chair of the Science and Technology Advisory Committee for the Montreal 1967 World
Exhibition
Chairman of the Canadian Environmental Advisory Council, created by Prime Minister Pierre
Trudeau
Chair, Ontario Royal Commission on Electric Power Planning, 1975
Awards and Honours
 Order of Canada, 1988
 Honorary D.Sc., University of Manchester, 2004
 Canadian Centenary Medal, 1967
 Canadian Confederation Medal
 Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal, 1977
 Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal, 2002