Richard R. Ernst

Richard R. Ernst was born in 1933 in Winterthur, Switzerland. He received both his diploma in chemistry in 1957 and his Ph.D. in physical chemistry in 1962[9] from ETH Zurich.[10] His dissertation was on nuclear magnetic resonance in the field of physical chemistry.

Ernst entered Varian Associates as a scientist in 1963 and invented Fourier transform NMR, noise decoupling, and a number of other methods. He returned to ETH Zurich in 1968 and became a lecturer. His career developed to Assistant Professor in 1970, Associate Professor in 1972. Since 1976, Richard R. Ernst was Full Professor of Physical Chemistry.[11]

He led a research group dedicated to magnetic resonance spectroscopy, was the director of the Physical Chemistry Laboratory at the ETH Zurich. He developed two-dimensional NMR and several novel pulse techniques. He retired in 1998. He participated in the development of medical magnetic resonance tomography, as well as the NMR structure determination of biopolymers in solution collaborating with Professor Kurt Wüthrich. He also participated in the study of intra-molecular dynamics.[11]

Ernst is a foreign fellow of the Estonian Academy of Sciences (elected 2002)[12], the US National Academy of Sciences, the Royal Academy of Sciences, London, the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Korean Academy of Science and Technology and Bangladesh Academy of Sciences.[13][14][15] He was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in 1993.[1] He was awarded the John Gamble Kirkwood Medal in 1989.[16]

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1991 was awarded to Richard R. Ernst "for his contributions to the development of the methodology of high resolution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy"[17] A strong proponent of Ernst's nomination was the long-time Danish colleague and member of the Nobel Committee Professor Børge Bak.

He holds Honorary Doctorates from the Technical University of Munich, ETH Lausanne, University of Zurich, University Antwerpen, Babes-Bolyai University, and University Montpellier.[14]

Ernst is member of the World Knowledge Dialogue Scientific Board. Ernst was awarded the Marcel Benoist Prize in 1986, the Wolf Prize for Chemistry in 1991 and Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize of Columbia University in 1991.[14][18] He was also awarded the Tadeus Reichstein Medal in 2000[19] and the Order of the Star of Romania in 2004.[20]

The 2009 Bel Air Film Festival featured the world premiere of a documentary film on Ernst Science Plus Dharma Equals Social Responsibility. Produced by Carlo Burton, the film takes place in Ernst's hometown in Switzerland.[21]

• Principles of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance in One and Two Dimensions, Clarendon Press, 1987[22]
• Richard R. Ernst: Nobelpreisträger aus Winterthur, Hier und Jetzt, Baden 2020
• Alois Feusi: Richard Ernst: Der Selbstzweifler, dem der Nobelpreis peinlich war. Summary of his autobiography. Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 21 May 2020. Retrieved 22 May 2020