FENN, John

FENN, JOHN (Fenn, John) (p. 1917) (USA). Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 2002 (with K. Tanaka and K. Vyutrihom).

John Fenn was born June 15, 1917 in New York. In 1937okonchil Berea College in Kentucky, and then defended his dissertation at Yale University in 1940.

The next 12 years worked in different companies - 'Monsanto', 'Sharpless', 'Eksperiments, Inc..', Then 10 years of supervised research project for the U.S. Navy at Princeton University. It also later became a professor of aerospace sciences.

In 1967 he returned to Yale University to teach and do research, where he remained a professor until 1984, when he retired.

Before leaving Peninnah resigned in 1983 in New Haven was in his honor arranged conference, called 'Fennfest' - holiday Peninnah.

The method of mass spectrometry has a number of modifications and is widely used in chemical, biochemical, technological, environmental and other studies, but it can not be used for the analysis of 'heavy' molecules. It should use it to study the structure of biological macromolecules.

When the mass-spectral method of soft ionization ( 'Electrospray'), which Fenn said in 1984, the water evaporates from the charged droplets of protein solution. Remains free floating particles of protein ions, whose masses can be determined by adjusting their movement and measuring the flight time at a certain distance.

Method elektrospreya did not come out of nowhere. His idea originated in 1917 in a research physicist John Zeleny (John Zeleny), a principle developed by M. Dole (M. Dole) in 1968. The report itself Peninnah appeared simultaneously with the publication of the application of the same techniques Leningrad researchers ML Alexandrov, LN Gall, VN Krasnov, VI Nikolaev, VA Pavlenko and VA Shkurovym.

Figuratively speaking, Fenn, moving heavy organic molecules in the gas phase, to be able to determine their molecular mass in the mass spectrometer, 'made an elephant fly'.

As a result of using the method 'elektrospreya' has undergone a fundamental change in the analysis of pharmaceutical products - in combination with liquid cleaning method elektrospreya enabled us to analyze hundreds of samples per day. The technology allows the subject to control and food production at different stages. Thus, changing the mode, you can avoid the presence of food contaminants.

Before leaving Peninnah resigned in 1983 in New Haven was organized conference in his honor, called 'Fennfest' - holiday Peninnah.

Fenn remained at Yale as an honored professor until 1994, then became a professor at the University of Virginia's federal.

Lectures at Trent University (Italy), University of Tokyo, in a research institute in Bangalore (India) and Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing.

In addition, wrote a book machines and entropy - the thermodynamic primer, as well as an autobiographical sketch of Research in retrospect: the biography of traveling Chemist

. In 2002, Fenn shared half the Nobel Prize with K. Tanaka 'for the development of methods for identification and structural analysis of biological macromolecules: their development of soft desorption ionisation methods for mass spectral analysis of biological macromolecules',
. The second half of the prize was awarded to K. Vyutrihu.