General Announcements

2002 Nobel Prize in Chemistry Awarded to Professor John Fenn of Virginia Commonwealth University and Dr. Koichi Tanaka of Shimadzu Corporation

Congratulations to Professor John Fenn of VCU for the 2002 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, shared with Koichi Tanaka and Kurt Wuthrich. Professors Fenn and Tanaka were specifically recognized for their contributions to the development of soft ionization techniques (electrospray and laser desorption, respectively) for mass spectrometric analysis of biomolecules. The implications of these discoveries have been obvious to mass spectrometrists since their inception; however, their impact has spread so far as to be almost unimaginable.

We have been distinctly fortunate to have Professor Fenn in our own backyard for many years now. He has been an attendee at our Discussion Group meetings, and he has honored us by making presentations to the group over the years. His most recent presentation to the group was in 1995, when the title of his talk was "How Ions are Formed from Charged Droplets - A Blend of Fact, Fancy, Fiction and Faith". John is well known for his entertaining and enlightening presentations; few who were there can forget the talk he gave on the Old Testament and New Testament of Ionization in 1989 at the first Sanibel Conference. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to hear and know Professor Fenn over the years can attest to the clarity and depth of his scientific insight, the extent of his vision, his persistence, and most of all, his humility and humanity. As anyone attending an ASMS meeting knows, there are few scientists more accessible and more willing to discuss ideas. It has indeed been a privilege and an honor to work in a field led by such a scientist.

Koichi Tanaka was recognized for his role in the development of soft laser ionization. At the Joint Japan-China Mass Spectrometry Meeting in 1987 in Takarazuka, Japan he presented perhaps the first very high mass spectra of proteins using a pulsed nitrogen laser and a cobalt powder/glycerol matrix. While both electrospray and the MALDI method of Franz Hillenkamp and Michael Karas were being developed at the time, the spectacular results in the 70 kDa and above range provided considerable impetus to mass spectroscopists to extend their mass ranges. Dr. Tanaka is a senior engineer with the Shimadzu Corporation in Kyoto, and has recently been responsible for the development of a combined ion trap/time-of-flight (QitTOF) tandem instrument at the Shimadzu Research Laboratories in Manchester, UK.

Once again, congratulations to Professor Fenn and Dr. Tanaka.