R. Graham Cooks

Meet R. Graham Cooks

Career highlight
Working with PhD students and postdocs. On the technical side, many things, starting with MS/MS for complex mixtures and going through MRMs, matrix-assisted ionization, miniature mass spectrometers and now accelerated solution-phase reactions in droplets. All great fun.

Game changers in mass spectrometry
Depends on your interests. For some of us it is ambient ionization, for others the Orbitrap mass analyzer. For others, ion soft landing and surface-induced dissociation.

What makes a successful inventor?
Unhappiness. Unhappiness with the status quo, including yourself. The same properties that make for successful poets.

Nominator comment: “Cooks’ research has transformed the field of mass spectrometry. His recent work on ambient ionization opens up unique opportunities to bring mass spectrometers into every doctor’s office.”

Categories: Inventors, Mass spectrometrists