VCU chemistry professor/Nobel Prize winner elected into National Academy of Science

By Mike Frontiero
VCU School of Education

RICHMOND, Va. – Five months after accepting the Nobel Prize for chemistry, Virginia Commonwealth University professor John B. Fenn, Ph.D., has been elected into the National Academy of Sciences.

Election to membership in the Academy is considered one of the highest honors accorded to a United States scientist or engineer and recognizes those who have made distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. The Academy is comprised of nearly 2,000 members and Fenn is its only Virginia chemist.

In 2002, the Nobel Prize awards committee honored Fenn for his invention of a pioneering technique that allows researchers to “weigh” and detect large molecules. Its application to large biological molecules, such as proteins, enzymes, and DNA, has revolutionized work in proteomics, pharmaceuticals and medicine. The technique, called electrospray ionization mass spectrometry, is used in laboratories around the world to rapidly and simply reveal what proteins a sample contains, contributing to the development of new medicines.

“Dr. Fenn's election to the National Academy of Science is another acknowledgement of the tremendous impact his discoveries have made in the world of science and their benefit to mankind,” said VCU President Dr. Eugene P. Trani.

Fenn joined VCU in 1994 as professor of analytical chemistry in VCU’s Department of Chemistry after more than 20 years at Yale University. He also is affiliate professor of chemical engineering at VCU’s School of Engineering.

“VCU has in Dr. Fenn a remarkable scholar, teacher, and colleague,” said Fred M. Hawkridge, Ph.D., who chairs the VCU Department of Chemistry.  “He continues to spread his enthusiasm for the study of chemistry and its use to solve important societal problems with extraordinary energy and passion.”

Fenn received a B.A. in chemistry from Berea College in 1937 and a Ph.D. from Yale in 1940. He worked for about a dozen years in process development at Monsanto Co. and Sharples Chemical in Michigan and then spent seven years in Richmond at a small company that specialized in combustion engines. In 1959, he was named director of Project SQUID, a U.S. Navy program of basic and applied research in jet propulsion administered by Princeton University, where he became professor of aerospace and mechanical sciences.

Fenn also has served as a visiting professor at Trento University, Italy, the University of Tokyo, the Indian Institute of Science at Bangalore and the Chinese Academy of Science in Beijing and as a distinguished lecturer at several other institutions. Author of one book and more than 100 papers, he is sole or co-inventor on 19 patents.

The National Academy of Sciences is a private organization of distinguished scientists and engineers dedicated to the furtherance of science and its use for the general welfare. It was established in 1863 by a congressional act of incorporation, signed by Abraham Lincoln, which calls on the Academy to act as an official adviser to the federal government, upon request, in any matter of science or technology.