John Fenn (chemist) - Early Life and Education

Early Life and Education

Fenn was born in New York City, and grew up with his parents in Hackensack, New Jersey. In the years preceding the Great Depression, Fenn's father worked several different jobs, including briefly working as a draftsman at the Fokker Aircraft Company. During this time, Charles Lindbergh's plane The Spirit of St. Louis was briefly stored at one of the company's hangars. Fenn recalls sitting in the cockpit as a ten-year-old, pretending to pilot the famous plane. When his family's fortunes took a turn for the worse with the advent of the Depression, they moved to Berea, Kentucky. 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. He earned his bachelor's degree from Berea College in his new hometown, with the assistance of summer classes in organic chemistry at the University of Iowa, and physical chemistry at Purdue.

When Fenn was considering graduate school, he was advised to take additional mathematics courses by Henry Bent, then a chemistry professor at Harvard 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 mathematical skills were a hindrance in his career. After submitting several applications, Fenn received offers for teaching assistantships from Yale and Northwestern, and accepted the position at Yale. Fenn did his graduate studies in physical chemistry under Gosta Akerlof. He obtained his Ph. D. in chemistry from Yale in 1940 and his thesis was 45 pages long, with only three pages of prose.