Professor Robert (Bob) Porter is distinguished for sustained and scholarly investigation of the central nervous mechanisms responsible for control of voluntary muscle, especially the role of the pyramidal pathway between cerebral cortex and motor nerve cells. His research has included comparative mammalian studies, precise analysis of the effects on single motor nerve cells of signals from the cerebral cortex, from interneurones and from muscle sense organs, and the biophysical basis of their interaction at the cellular level. His work is characterised by imaginativeness and outstanding technical skill, well illustrated by his achievement in recording from single brain cells in conscious animals performing learned tasks, experiements now yielding a rich harvest of information about the neural code-system used by the brain in its control of movement.