| Authorised form of name | Ernst; Richard R (1933-2021); physical chemist |
| Dates | 1933 - 2021 |
| Nationality | Swiss |
| Place of birth | Winterthur, Switzerland, Europe |
| Date of birth | 14/08/1933 |
| Place of death | Winterthur, Switzerland, Europe |
| Date of death | 4 June 2021 |
| Occupation | Physical chemist |
| Research field | Nuclear magnetic resonance |
| Spectroscopy |
| Physics |
| Chemistry |
| Physical chemistry |
| Activity | Education:
Eidgenossische Technische Hochshule (ETH) in Zurich, PhD
Career:
Worked at Varian Associates in Palo Alto, California (1963-1968). During this time he developed NMR Fourier spectroscopy, noise decoupling, and several other techniques; returned to ETH Zurich, where he remained, eventually becoming a full professor (1976); directed a research group devoted to magnetic resonance spectroscopy and was temporarily director of the physical chemistry laboratory of the ETH Zurich. He was also head of a research group concentrating on methodological developments in liquid state and solid state NMR. He developed two dimensional NMR and many novel pulse techniques. He contributed to the development of medical magnetic resonance tomography, and in collaboration with Professor Kurt Wuthrich to the development of the NMR structure determination of biopolymers in solution. Retired (1998); more recently, he has been involved in the study of intramolecular dynamics; Professor Emeritus of the Swiss federal Institute of Technology (1998); delivered Clarkson University's Shipley Lectureship (2001); delivered the lecture on 'Fascinating Tibetan Painting: Art seen through the eyes of a Western Scientist' as part of 'Egon's Day' (a day of celebration of science and culture) at Clarkson University (11 Ocotber 2007).
Awards/Medals:
Marcel Benoist Prize (1985)
Nobel Prize for Chemistry (1991)
Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize (1991) |
| Membership category | Foreign Member |
| Date of election | 17/06/1993 |
| Age at election | 59 |
| Royal Society activity | Medals and prizes:
Wolf Prize 1991 |
| Published works | RCN 38379 |
| General context | Richard Ernst was a Nobel Prize-winning physical chemist who developed Fourier transform nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy with applications in chemistry and medicine. His research led to the development of both two-dimensional NMR, for the determination of the physical and chemical properties of atoms, and medical magnetic resonance tomography (MRT), an imaging technique used to investigate the human body.
NMR is arguably the most powerful structural analysis tool that chemists have at their disposal. Richard discovered that by applying short, intense pulses of radio waves instead of slow, sweeping ones, the sensitivity of NMR techniques could be dramatically improved. His discovery enabled the analysis of a much wider range of nuclei and smaller amounts of materials.
Delivered the lecture on 'Fascinating Tibetan Painting: Art seen through the eyes of a Western Scientist' as part of 'Egon's Day' (a day of celebration of science and culture) at Clarkson University on 11 Ocotber 2007. |
| Sources | The Royal Society Fellows Directory, Professor Richard Ernst ForMemRS, [URL:https://royalsociety.org/people/richard-ernst-11404/; last accessed: 23/04/2025] |
| Royal Society code | NA4163 |
Archives associated with this Fellow
| Reference number | Title | Date |
| IM/001306 | Ernst, Richard R | 1994 |
| EC/1993/43 | Ernst, Richard R: certificate of election to the Royal Society | 1992 |