VCU Nobel Laureate meets Swedish Ambassador, presidents Bush and Carter, international reporters

By Mike Frontiero
VCU School of Education

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Sweden's ambassador to the United States formally presented Virginia Commonwealth University professor John B. Fenn, Ph.D., and four other newly-named American Nobel Prize winners to reporters and dignitaries in Washington.

"If you count since 1950, half the Nobel laureates are Americans," Ambassador Jan Eliasson told two dozen American, Japanese and Swedish reporters he invited to an informal press meeting Monday. "That says a lot about the quality of American research and how important it is that we keep contacts around the world with the United States."

Fenn, a research professor in VCU's Department of Chemistry and an affiliate professor of chemical engineering, won a share of the Nobel Prize in chemistry for his invention of a pioneering technique that allows researchers to accurately "weigh" large molecules, such as proteins. Fenn's technique, called electrospray ionization, or ESI, is used in chemistry laboratories around the world to rapidly and simply reveal what proteins a sample contains, contributing to the development of new pharmaceuticals that can treat life-threatening diseases.

Reporters asked Fenn many of the same questions he has been getting since Oct. 9 when the prize was announced. "What are you going to do with the money? What will your discovery mean for medicine and cancer?" "You try to give a little bit of a different answer every time," Fenn said. "It's a bit stressful, but it's nice to bask in the attention, that's for sure."

When the reporters were finished, the ambassador escorted the prizewinners to the White House to meet with President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush. "It's a great honor," said Fenn. "When I was a kid, I read about people going to the White House, but I never dreamed I would actually be invited."

The day ended with dinner at the ambassador's residence and an opportunity for the prize winners to meet members of the Supreme Court, President Bush's Cabinet and former President Jimmy Carter, the 2002 Nobel Prize winner for peace and one of Fenn's heroes.

"I'm a great admirer of Carter for his peace efforts around the world and his contributions to Habitat for Humanity," he said. "The most rewarding thing about all this is I'll be receiving the Nobel Prize the same time Carter is."

Fenn will present his Nobel lecture Dec. 8 at Stockholm University and receive his prize from the king of Sweden in Stockholm Dec. 10.