John Bennett Fenn (June 15, 1917 – December 10, 2010) was an American professor ofanalytical chemistry who was awarded a share of theNobel Prize in Chemistry in 2002. He shared half of the award withKoichi Tanaka for their work inmass spectrometry. The other half went toKurt Wüthrich. Fenn's contributions specifically related to the development ofelectrospray ionization, now a commonly used technique for large molecules and routine liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Early in his career, he studied the field of jet propulsion atProject SQUID and focused onmolecular beams. He finished his career with more than 100 publications, including one book.
Fenn's research into electrospray ionization found him at the center of a legal dispute withYale University. He lost the lawsuit, after it was determined that he misled the university about the potential usefulness of the technology. Yale was awarded $500,000 in legal fees and $545,000 in damages. The decision pleased the university, but provoked mixed responses from some people affiliated with the institution, who were disappointed with the treatment of a Nobel Prize winner with such a long history at the school.
Fenn was born inNew York City, and grew up inHackensack, New Jersey. In the years preceding theGreat Depression, Fenn's father worked several different jobs, including briefly working as adraftsman at the Fokker Aircraft Company. During this time,Charles Lindbergh's planeThe Spirit of St. Louis was briefly stored at one of the company's hangars. Fenn recalled sitting in the cockpit as a ten-year-old, pretending to pilot the famous plane.[4] When his family's fortunes took a turn for the worse with the advent of the Depression, they moved toBerea,Kentucky, because his auntHelen Dingman, who was on the faculty ofBerea College, agreed to help the family.[5] Fenn completed his education at Berea College and Allied Schools, formally finishing his high school education at the age of 15, but he took extra classes for another year rather than start college at such a young age.[4] He earned hisbachelor's degree from Berea College in his new hometown, with the assistance of summer classes inorganic chemistry at theUniversity of Iowa, andphysical chemistry atPurdue.[4]
When Fenn was consideringgraduate school, he was advised to take additional mathematics courses by Henry Bent, then a chemistry professor atHarvard University. His undergraduate program in chemistry had required minimal math courses, and he had been excused from these due to high marks in his high school courses. Due to Bent's advice, Fenn added math classes to his schedule. Despite his future success, Fenn always felt that his lack of mathematical skills were a hindrance in his career.[4] After submitting several applications, Fenn received offers for teaching assistantships fromYale andNorthwestern, and accepted the position at Yale.[4] Fenn did his graduate studies in physical chemistry under Gosta Akerlof.[4] He obtained hisPhD in chemistry from Yale in 1940 and his thesis was 45 pages long, with only three pages of prose.[4]
After completing graduate school, Fenn's first job was withMonsanto, working in the Phosphate Division and producingpolychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Fenn and his colleague James Mullen became disenchanted with the direction of work at Monsanto, and they resigned together in 1943.[4] Fenn worked briefly at a small company named Sharples Chemicals that focused on the production of amyl chloride derivatives.[4] In 1945, he joined Mullen at his new startup, Experiment, Inc, focusing on research and development. Fenn's first publication came in 1949 as a result of his work with Mullen. That this publication came ten years after he completed graduate school made Fenn somewhat of a rarity amongst academics.[4]
In 1952, Fenn moved toPrinceton University as Director ofProject SQUID, a program to support research related to jet propulsion that was funded by theOffice of Naval Research.[4] During this period, Fenn started his work developing supersonic atomic and molecular beam sources, which are now widely used in chemical physics research. After working with Project SQUID, Fenn returned to Yale University in 1967. He held a joint appointment in the chemistry and engineering departments until 1987, conducting much of his research in Mason Laboratory.[6] In 1987, Fenn had reached Yale's mandatory retirement age. He became aprofessor emeritus, entitling him to office space at the university, but costing him most of his laboratory space and research assistants.[7]
After a dispute with Yale over his forced retirement and the rights to his invention ofelectrospray ionization, Fenn moved toRichmond,Virginia to joinVirginia Commonwealth University's (VCU) department of chemistry as ananalytical chemistry professor. VCU established an engineering department in the late 1990s, and Fenn held a joint professorship between the two departments until his death.[8] Even in his 80s, Fenn enjoyed the opportunity to be in the lab doing research, saying, "I like to mingle and exchange with the young people. It gets me out from underfoot at home."[9]
The instrument Fenn and his colleagues used to develop ESI is on display at the Science History Institute Museum in Philadelphia, PA
While Fenn was working withMonsanto, the company's research was focused on the production ofphosphoric acid andpolychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).[4] Fenn and his colleagues at Monsanto were largely unaware of the health hazards posed by PCBs, indeed because of their inertness, they "practically bathed in the stuff".[4] After spending several more years doing various industrial research, Fenn was looking to get back into the academic world. He had the opportunity to go to Princeton University, where he became the director of Project SQUID.[4]
Fenn did not start his Nobel-winning research until later in his career. He was semi-retired when he first published his research onelectrospray ionization formass spectrometry.[6] Fenn felt that his work in electrospray ionization received "a kick in the pants" whenproteomics emerged.[10] In 2001, more than 1700 papers on proteomics were published, many using electrospray ionization.[9] Electrospray ionization provides a way to get accurate information about the mass of a large molecule very quickly, even when it is in a mixture of other molecules.[10] The liquid sample is introduced into an electrospray source (at atmospheric pressure) and desolvated with a flow of heatednitrogen gas. This forms small droplets which evaporate in a region under vacuum, which increases the charge on the droplets.[11] For large molecules like proteins, this often results in multiply charge species. Increasing the charge on the molecules, decreased themass-to-charge ratio, which allows the mass to be more easily determined.[11]
Despite getting a late start in publishing his research (he did not publish a paper until 10 years after finishing graduate school), Fenn had over 100 publications at the time of his death.[6] He also wrote a book, entitledEngines, Energy, and Entropy: A Thermodynamics Primer.[12] The Science History Institute Museum in Philadelphia, PA has the instrument Fenn and his graduate students built while they were developing electrospray ionization on display, after receiving it as a gift from Fenn.[13]
Fenn's work with electrospray ionization was at the center of a lawsuit pitting him against hisalma mater and former employer, Yale University. His initial dispute with the university began in 1987, when he turned 70 – Yale's mandatory retirement age.[7] Per university policy, Fenn was made anemeritus professor, which resulted in a reduction to his lab space.[8] Emeritus professors at Yale are still provided with an office, but cannot conduct their own research, nor manage their own labs.[14] In 1989, when Yale University inquired about the progress and potential about his electrospray work, he downplayed its potential scientific and commercial value.[7] Fenn believed he had the rights to the invention under theBayh–Dole Act.[15] Fenn patented the technology on his own, and sold licensing rights to a company he partly owned – Analytica of Branford. In 1993, a private company seeking to license the use of electrospray technology traced its invention to Yale, when the university discovered that Fenn held the patent.[7][15] Yale's policy regarding patents generated by faculty or students requires that a percentage of any royalties generated from the patent are used by the university to fund future research. They do not claim the rights to patents that are produced away from university facilities or not related to the researcher's "designated activities."[15] Fenn claimed that he owned the technology because the work was completed after he had been forced to downsize at the university's mandatory retirement age.[15]
Yale University entered into its own licensing agreement with a private company, leading Fenn to file a lawsuit against the school in 1996. Yale countersued, requesting damages and reassignment of the patent.[15] The two parties did not reach an out of court settlement, despite repeated attempts at mediation. In 2005, U.S. District JudgeChristopher Droney ruled against Fenn, awarding Yale $545,000 in royalties and $500,000 in legal fees.[7] Judge Droney was critical of Fenn, saying "Dr. Fenn only obtained the patent through fraud, civil theft, and breach of fiduciary duty."[15] Evidence presented in the case indicated that Fenn had served on panels at Yale University that reviewed the institution's policy onintellectual property.[7]
A spokesperson for Yale said, "We are pleased by the result in this case and, in particular, by the court's vindication of the Yale patent policy."[7] The ruling, and Yale's response produced a mixed reaction from some of Fenn's colleagues and former students, who wrote a letter to theYale Daily News stating, "'Vindicating the Yale patent policy' is a poor excuse for treating a Nobel Laureate with a 68-year association with and dedicated service to the University, in such a contemptible manner."[16]
Honor of Fenn's Nobel Prize award in theBerea College in Berea, Kentucky
Fenn shared the 2002Nobel Prize in Chemistry withKoichi Tanaka andKurt Wüthrich "for the development of methods for identification and structure analyses of biological macromolecules."[17] Fenn and Tanaka split half of the award for their work in developing ionization techniques for usingmass spectrometry to analyze large biological molecules. Wüthrich was honored for his work in developingnuclear magnetic resonance techniques to analyze similar molecules in solution.[17] Fenn was honored largely for his contributions to the development ofelectrospray ionization, which made the analysis of large molecules by mass spectrometry feasible.[6] Fenn's Nobel lecture after being presented with the award was entitled "Electrospray Wings for Molecular Elephants."[18] He was surprised by his selection as a Nobel winner, saying "It's like winning the lottery, I'm still in shock."[10] At the time of his award, Fenn was working at Virginia Commonwealth University.[6]
Fenn received his Nobel Prize fairly late in his career. Prior to being honored by the Nobel Foundation, Fenn had received numerous other awards. Early in his career, Fenn's research was focused onmolecular beams, leading him to be named an honorary president of the Sixth International Symposium on Molecular Beams in 1977, and the first fellow of the International Molecular Beam Symposium in 1985.[6] In 1982, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation presented him with their U.S. Senior Scientist Award.[6]
Fenn's work in mass spectrometry earned him another spate of awards later in his career. In 1992, theAmerican Society for Mass Spectrometry presented him with their Award for Distinguished Contributions in Mass Spectrometry. The International Society of Mass Spectrometry honored him with the Thomson Medal in 2000, and in the same year theAmerican Chemical Society presented him with the Award for Advancements in Chemical Instrumentation. He was awarded theAssociation of Biomolecular Resource Facilities Award for outstanding contributions to Biomolecular Technologies in 2002. In 2003, Fenn was honored by his alma mater with theWilbur Cross Medal, the Yale Graduate School Alumni Association's highest honor.[6]
Fenn married Margaret Wilson at the end of his second year of graduate studies.[4] Together, they had three children – two daughters and a son.[8] Margaret was killed in a car accident inNew Zealand in 1992.[4] Fenn remarried, his second wife was named Frederica Mullen.[8] He died inRichmond,Virginia on December 10, 2010, at the age of 93,[6] exactly 8 years to the day after receiving his Nobel Prize. Fenn was survived by Frederica, his three children, seven grandchildren, and eleven great-grandchildren: Anika Fenn Gilman, Nora Fenn Gilman, Dominick Brown, Aaron Holloway, Michelle Holloway, Damarion Holloway, Tyrell Holloway, Eloise Whittington, JC Leslie, Manon Leslie, and Dino Steinberg.[19]
^ab"Electrospray Ionization". School of Chemical Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.Archived from the original on October 9, 2011. RetrievedApril 5, 2011.
^Fenn, John B. (2003).Engines, Energy, and Entropy: A Thermodynamics Primer (2nd ed.). Global View Publishing.
^"Objects". Science History Institute. May 31, 2016.Archived from the original on March 28, 2018. RetrievedMarch 23, 2018.
