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Alain Porter (1958-1993) (1Dec93)
(from the Director's Office, NOAO Newsletter No. 36, 1 December 1993)

We mourn the loss of our friend and colleague, Alain Porter, who passed
away during the night of 10 October. Alain had made significant
contributions to research on supernovae, galaxy clusters, and the
evolution of quasar energy distributions. His meticulous care as an
observer made all his datasets of substantial value. It is clear,
however, that his intellectual enthusiasm was most strong when directed
toward the understanding of supernovae and the relationship of light
curves and spectra to the physical evolution of the envelopes and
energy sources.

Alain graduated from Harvard magna cum laude in 1980, receiving a
Master's degree along with his B.A. His involvement with the Center for
Astrophysics High Energy Division and interest in the X-ray properties
of galaxy clusters continued throughout his career. He received his
Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology in 1988 for his
thesis with J.B. Oke on Isophotometry of Brightest Elliptical Galaxies
in Rich Clusters. Alain was one of the early users of the CCD on the
Burrell Schmidt telescope on Kitt Peak, to extend his thesis work to
cDs with envelopes of very large angular size. He came to KPNO as a
postdoc in 1988 to work with Pat Osmer and Richard Green on the
spectral energy distributions of high-redshift quasars. He remained at
KPNO after the completion of his postdoctoral appointment to pursue
research with ROSAT, IUE and EUVE related to both quasar energy sources
and the X-ray luminosity function of clusters of galaxies.

Alain Porter has left us two legacies. We have the publications and
conference proceedings, which represent only a fraction of the
ambitious projects that he had undertaken.  More importantly, we have
the example of his tremendous dedication and joy in the pursuit of
astronomical knowledge. His ongoing battle with cancer sapped energy
and created increasing physical discomfort. He nevertheless maintained
a full work week and a heavy observing schedule as long as possible, to
the extent that some of his students and colleagues were unaware of any
current medical problem. When the everyday aspects of working and
observing became a growing physical challenge, the productive use of
time and successful completion of responsibilities became acts of quiet
heroism. Alain's commitment to our field kept him focused on the
promise of the future; his years in Tucson made our lives richer by his
presence and by his example.

Richard F. Green

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