[1] He also was the first African-American to earn a doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, graduating with a Ph.D. in chemical engineering in 1933.
In 1933, he completed a Ph.D. in the Department of Chemistry with a dissertation entitled, "Heat of Dilution of Hydrochloric Acid by Continuous Flow Calorimetry.
"[4] During World War II, Fort served as chief chemist and plant superintendent of H. and G. J. Caldwell Company in Massachusetts.
[5] In 1954, he joined the chemical industries staff at the Advisory Bureau for Commerce of the U.S. Department of Commerce, serving in Tel Aviv, Israel,[2][3] making him the highest ranked African-American appointed to a governmental technical post in a foreign country at that time.
The Fort Fellowship was awarded to "the most promising senior minority student who has been accepted for graduate study at M.I.T.