8/7/2019 Prof John Fenn Nobel Laureate in Chemistry Has Passed
Away 1917-2010 SK
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Sunday, January 23, 2011
Nobel Laureate Professor John Fenn Has
Passed Away (1917-2010)Prof John Fenn: The person who opened the
technique in Chemist's tool box for Biologists.....
Prof John Fenn was born in New York City
in 1917. He moved with his family to Berea, Ky., as a
teen. He attended Berea College, receiving his
bachelor's degree in1937. He earned his Ph.D. in
physical chemistry from Yale in1940.
After his graduation, he worked in industry, with stints
at Monsanto in Anniston, Ala.; Sharples Chemicals inWyandotte,
Mich.; and Experiment Inc., a small
company in Richmond.
In 1952, he moved to Princeton University as the
director of the Navy-funded Project SQUID to
sponsor pure and applied research related to jet propulsion. On
the other hand he served as a
professor of mechanical engineeringfrom 1959 to 1963 and
ofaerospace sciences from 1963 to1966.
Fenn did the work for which he received the Nobel Prize while at
Yale University, where he was a
professor of applied science and chemistry from 1967 to
1980.Fenn produced his breakthrough inthe late 1980s by
transforming an analysis technique called mass spectrometry, which
helps reveal the
mass and charge of particles. The technique had long been part
of the chemists toolbox, but was not
effective with large and complex molecules such as proteins,
peptides and DNA.
He was the professor of chemical engineering from 1981 until his
retirement in 1987.Fenn published
his research in 1988, shortly after being forced to retire from
Yale University because he had reached 70
He had stayed on as a professor emeritus, but was not allowed to
use graduate students to help with his
research, and was downsized to a smaller office. Subsequently he
moved to Virginia Commonwealth
University in 1994 because the school furnished him with a
laboratory.
In 1992, Fenn received the Award for Distinguishe
Contribution in Mass Spectrometry from the
American Society for Mass Spectrometry. He was
member of the American Chemical Society for 69
years. After Fenn left Yale, the university discovered
that he had filed a personal patent for the technique,
contrary to the universitys policy, and, in 1991, had
licensed the patent to a company he had co-founded
Saravanan Kumar,ICGEB
SK
8/7/2019 Prof John Fenn Nobel Laureate in Chemistry Has Passed
Away 1917-2010 SK
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with a graduate student. John Fenns wife, Margaret, died in
1992.
Prof Fenn shared the 2002 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for work that
aided the mass spectrometric
analysis of proteins and other large biological molecules. He
shared the Nobel prize with Japanese
scientist Koichi Tanaka and Kurt Wuthrich of Switzerland.In
2005, Fenn lost a dispute with Yale over th
patent rights to electrospray MS, according to the New York
Times.
In an interview published in theAnnual Review of Analytical
Chemistry, Dr. Fenn expounded on his
views about chemistry education."Courses ought to be fun," he
said. "I don't care whether we cover
everything in the periodic table or not. . . . There's no fun
anymore!"I wish we could somehow get it
across that the purpose of education is to develop young
peoples' minds, not fill them up with a lot
of facts," he said. "Teach them how to think."
Prof John Fenn- Nobel soul passed away on Dec10 2010
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2002/fenn-lecture.html
Hats off Doc..... My progress in profession is because of
persons
like you
SARAVANAN KUMAR
Research Associate,
Proteomics Facility, PTG,
International Centre for Genetic Engineering and
Biotechnology,
New Delhi, India
http://sk-manandmachines.blogspot.com/
Saravanan Kumar,ICGEB
SK
