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Two
Virginia Nobels in one year
by Paula C. Squires
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The
news wasn’t all bad last year for Virginia’s
colleges and universities. Two faculty members received
academia’s most coveted distinction — a Nobel
Prize. John B. Fenn a research professor in the chemistry
department at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond
was one of three recipients of the chemistry prize.
Vernon L. Smith, a professor of economics and law at
George Mason University in Fairfax County, won in economic
sciences along with Princeton University Professor Daniel
Kahneman.
“To
have two Nobel laureates in the same year in the commonwealth
and to have them receive their awards on the same day
— that is highly unique,” says VCU President
Eugene P. Trani. He and GMU President Alan Merten traveled
to Stockholm, Sweden, last month for the festivities
and Fenn’s and Smith’s Nobel lectures.
The
prizes include a $1 million award and raise the profile
of the winning faculty members’ universities. “This
is a great thing for Virginia, Richmond, VCU and GMU,”
says Trani, who has headed one of the state’s largest
urban universities for 13 years. However, both professors
won for work they did largely before coming to Virginia.
Fenn, 85, was honored for research in mass spectrometry,
specifically a method he pioneered in 1988 called electrospray
ionization. It enables researchers to analyze large
molecules that inhabit human cells, such as proteins,
with great accuracy, helping with the development of
new pharmaceuticals. Fenn joined VCU in 1994 as a professor
of analytical chemistry after more than 20 years at
Yale University. His current research, supported by
National Science Foundation grants, focuses in part
on analyzing particulate matter that might offer answers
on how atmospheric pollutants cause diseases.
GMU’s
Vernon Smith, 75, won for his contributions to experimental
economics. Fifty years ago, he developed laboratory
experiments to evaluate the performance and measure
of markets. Smith joined GMU in 2001 after the university
received a $3 million grant to assist in the recruitment
of Smith and other economic scholars. He is the second
GMU scholar to receive a Nobel Prize. Economics professor
James Buchanan received the award in 1986 for groundbreaking
work in public choice theory.
Return
to Virginia Business - January 2003
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