- Roy Porter
Roy Porter (
31 December 1946 —3 March 2002 ) was a Britishhistorian noted for his work on thehistory of medicine .Porter grew up in
South London and attendedWilson's School inCamberwell . He won a scholarship toChrist's College , Cambridge, where he studied under J. H. Plumb. His contemporaries includedSimon Schama and Andrew Wheatcroft. He achieved a double starred first and became a juniorFellow in 1968, studying under Robert M. Young. In 1972, he moved to Churchill College as a tutor of History, later becoming Dean. He received hisdoctorate in 1974, publishing a thesis on the history ofgeology .In 1979 he joined the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine (part of the
University College, London ) as a lecturer. In 1993 he became Professor of Social History at the Institute. He briefly served as its Director. In 2000, Porter published "The Enlightenment: Britain and the Creation of the Modern World". He retired in September 2001 and died of a heart attack five months later.[http://www.royporter.com/ Porter] wrote or edited over 100 books. In addition to the history of medicine and other sciences, he specialised in the
social history of eighteenth-century Britain and the Enlightenment. He also wrote and lectured on the history ofLondon . WithG E Berrios , Porter published "A History of Clinical Psychiatry"(1985) and co-edited the international Journal "History of Psychiatry" (1989). [http://hpy.sagepub.com/]In 2007 Roberta Bivins and John V. Pickstone edited "Medicine,Madness and Social History: Essays in Honour of Roy Porter" (Palgrave Macmillan). Several of the essays address Porter's work directly, and William F. Bynum appends a biographical sketch.
A plaque for the memory of Roy Porter was unveiled by the Mayor of Lewisham in a ceremony that took place on Thursday 5 June at 13 Camplin Street, New Cross Gate, London. [ [http://www.ucl.ac.uk/histmed/events/porter_plaque The Roy Porter Memorial Plaque Unveiling on the "Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine at UCL" website] ]
References
External links
* [http://www.ucl.ac.uk/histmed/publications/porter_bibliog Roy Porter memorial and bibliography] at the "Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL" website.
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4368006,00.html Roy Porter] at the [http://www.guardian.co.uk/ GuardianUnlimited Archive] .
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