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John Bennett Fenn (born June 15, 1917, New York City) is
an American research professor of analytical chemistry who was
awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in
2002. Fenn won the award for his work in the field of mass
spectrometry, specifically for the electrospray ionization
technique often used to identify and analyze biological macromolecules. He was awarded the Association
of Biomolecular Resource Facilities Award for outstanding
contributions to Biomolecular Technologies in 2002.
Fenn's discovery quickly produced broad practical benefits. For
example, it rapidly increased the speed with which complex new
pharmaceutical compounds could be evaluated, leading directly to
the development of life-saving AIDS medications (protease inhibitors)
in the mid-1990s.
Fenn, born in New York City to parents who were living in Hackensack, New Jersey, later
moved with his family to Berea, Kentucky as a young teenager. He earned an
A.B. from Berea
College in his new hometown and a Ph.D. from Yale University
in 1940. He then spent three years at Princeton
University as Director of Project SQUID, a
funded by the Office of Naval Research.
He joined the Yale University faculty in 1962. In 1987, he
reached the mandatory retirement age. Fighting age discrimination
and a University-mandated move to smaller laboratory space, Fenn
remained at Yale and was 70 years old before he began work on what
would in time become his Nobel Prize-winning discovery.
Fenn joined Virginia Commonwealth
University in 1994 as professor of analytical chemistry, after
more than 20 years at Yale University.
The patent rights to electrospray ionization became the subject
of a legal case between Yale University and Fenn, and on February
8, 2005 Yale was awarded over one million dollars and partial
patent rights to the technique.
References
- ^
Fenn, John, B. (1982). Engines,
Energy, and Entropy – a Thermodynamics Primer. W.H. Freeman
and Co.. ISBN
0-7167-1281-4.
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