Nobel laureate chemist Richard Heck, 84, dies in Manila

Richard F. Heck of the U.S., the 2010 Nobel Chemistry co-laureate, holds up a chair after signing under its seat at the Nobel Museum in Stockholm December 6 2010. REUTERS/Janerik Henriksson/Scanpix Sweden

MANILA (Reuters) - American chemist and Nobel laureate Richard Heck died in Manila on Saturday after years of illnesses that left him almost penniless, relatives of his Filipina wife said on Saturday.

Heck, 84, along with Japanese Ei-ichi Negishi and Akira Suzuki, won the Nobel prize in chemistry in 2010 for inventing new ways to bind carbon atoms that were used in research to fight cancer and produce thin computer screens.