John Fenn
Chemist, Academic
1917 – 2010
Who was John Fenn?
John Bennett Fenn was an American research professor of analytical chemistry who was awarded a share of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2002. Fenn shared half of the award with Koichi Tanaka for their work in mass spectrometry. The other half of the 2002 award went to Kurt Wüthrich. Fenn's contributions specifically related to the development of electrospray ionization, now a commonly used technique for large molecules and routine liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Early in his career, Fenn did research in the field of jet propulsion at Project SQUID, and focused on molecular beam studies. Fenn finished his career with more than 100 publications, including one book.
Fenn was born in New York City, and moved to Kentucky with his family during the Great Depression. Fenn did his undergraduate work at Berea College, and received his Ph.D. from Yale. He worked in industry at Monsanto and at private research labs before moving to academic posts including Yale and Virginia Commonwealth University.
Fenn's research into electrospray ionization found him at the center of a legal dispute with Yale University.
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- Born
- Jun 15, 1917
New York City - Parents
- Siblings
- Spouses
- Nationality
- United States of America
- Profession
- Education
- Bachelor's degree, Berea College
Chemistry
(1934 - 1937) - Doctorate, Yale University
Chemistry
- Bachelor's degree, Berea College
- Employment
- Monsanto
- Virginia Commonwealth University
- Princeton University
- Lived in
- United States of America
- Hackensack
- New York City
- Berea
- Anniston
- Died
- Dec 10, 2010
Richmond
Submitted
on July 23, 2013
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