Editing Richard R. Ernst

{{Short description|Swiss physical chemist and Nobel laureate (1933–2021)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name         = Richard R. Ernst
| birth_name   = Richard Robert Ernst
| image        = Richard R. Ernst 1980s (cropped).jpg
| image_size   = 
| image_height = 
| caption      = Ernst in the 1980s
| birth_date   = {{birth date|1933|8|14|df=y}}
| birth_place  = [[Winterthur]], Switzerland
| death_date   = {{death date and age|2021|6|4|1933|8|14|df=y}}
| death_place  = Winterthur, Switzerland
| thesis_title = Kernresonanz-Spektroskopie mit stochastischen Hochfrequenzfeldern
| thesis_url   = https://dx.doi.org/10.3929/ethz-a-000091764
| thesis_year  = 1962
| doctoral_advisors = Hans H. Günthard<br />[[Hans Primas]]
| doctoral_students = [[Marc Baldus]]
| alma_mater   = [[ETH Zurich]] (PhD)
| workplaces   = {{Plainlist|
* [[ETH Zurich]]
* [[Varian Associates]]}}
| known_for    = {{Plain list|
* [[Ernst angle]]
* [[Fourier transform]] [[Nuclear magnetic resonance|NMR]] [[spectroscopy]]
* [[Two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy|2D NMR spectroscopy]]/[[Nuclear Overhauser effect]] spectroscopy/[[Exclusive correlation spectroscopy]]
* 3D [[Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy|NMR spectroscopy]]
}}
| field         = {{Plainlist|
* [[Chemistry]]
* [[Physics]]}}
| prizes      =   {{Plainlist|
* [[Marcel Benoist Prize]] {{small|(1985)}}
* [[Nobel Prize for Chemistry]] {{small|(1991)}}
* [[Wolf Prize in Chemistry]] <small>(1991)</small>
* [[Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize]] <small>(1991)</small>
* [[Fellow of the Royal Society|ForMemRS]] <small>(1993)</small><ref name=formemrs>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151011205548/https://royalsociety.org/people/richard-ernst-11404/|archive-date=11 October 2015|url=https://royalsociety.org/people/richard-ernst-11404/|title=Professor Richard Ernst ForMemRS|publisher=[[Royal Society]]|location=London}}</ref>}}
| footnotes   = 
| website = {{URL|https://chab.ethz.ch/en/the-department/people/emeriti/emeriti-homepages/richard-ernst.html}}
}}

'''Richard Robert Ernst''' (14 August 1933 – 4 June 2021) was a Swiss [[physical chemist]] and [[Nobel Prize|Nobel]] laureate.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Alger |first=J R |date=1992 |title=The 1991 Nobel Prize in chemistry awarded to an MRI investigator |volume=16 |issue=1 |pages=1–2 |journal=Journal of Computer Assisted Tomography |doi = 10.1097/00004728-199201000-00001 |pmid = 1729287}}</ref>

Ernst was awarded the [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]] in 1991 for his contributions towards the development of [[Fourier transform]] [[nuclear magnetic resonance]] (NMR) [[spectroscopy]]<ref name="Aue1976">{{cite journal|last1=Aue|first1=W. P.|title=Two-dimensional spectroscopy. Application to nuclear magnetic resonance|journal=The Journal of Chemical Physics|volume=64|issue=5|year=1976|pages=2229–2246|issn=0021-9606|doi=10.1063/1.432450|bibcode=1976JChPh..64.2229A|s2cid=10608225}}</ref> while at [[Varian Associates]] and [[ETH Zurich]].<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.vega.org.uk/video/programme/21| title = Freeview video interview with Richard Ernst by the Vega Science Trust}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1991/ernst-interview.html| title = Interview with Professor Richard R. Ernst by Joanna Rose, science writer, 8 December 2001.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.nobel.se/chemistry/laureates/1991/index.html| title = The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1991}}</ref><ref name=autobio>{{cite web| url = http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1991/ernst-autobio.html| title = Ernst Autobiography at nobelprize.org}}</ref><ref name=Ernstbio>{{cite web|last=Ernst|first=Richard, R|title=Richard R. Ernst|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1991/|publisher=NobelPrize.org|access-date=18 July 2015}}</ref> These underpin applications to both to chemistry with [[Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy|NMR spectroscopy]] and to medicine with [[magnetic resonance imaging]] (MRI).<ref name=formemrs/>

He humbly referred to himself as a "tool-maker" rather than a scientist.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news|date=June 29, 2021|title=Richard Ernst Obituary|work=[[The Times]]|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/science/article/richard-ernst-obituary-w8j86sgfj}}</ref>

== Early life==
Ernst was born in [[Winterthur]], Switzerland on 14 August 1933<ref name=Nobel>{{cite web|title=Richard R. Ernst – Biographical|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1991/ernst/biographical/|accessdate=8 June 2021|publisher=Nobel Prize}}</ref> to Robert Ernst and Irma Ernst-Brunner.<ref name="Anthes">{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/16/science/richard-r-ernst-dead.html/|title=Richard R. Ernst Nobelist Who Paved Way for MRI Dies at 87|last=Anthes|first=Emily|work=New York Times|date=16 June 2021|access-date=18 June 2021}}</ref> He was the oldest of three children of Irma Brunner and Robert Ernst. He grew up in a house built in 1898 by his grandfather, who was a merchant.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1991|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1991/ernst/biographical/|access-date=10 June 2021|website=NobelPrize.org|language=en-US}}</ref> During his childhood, he was interested in music, playing the [[Cello|violoncello]] and even considering a career as a musical composer. At 13-years old, Ernst stumbled upon a box of chemicals belonging to his late uncle, a metallurgical engineer.<ref>{{Citation|title=Insights from Notable Scientists|date=22 June 2011|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1201/b11013-11|work=Scientific Research as a Career|pages=95–114|publisher=CRC Press|doi=10.1201/b11013-11|isbn=978-0-429-10525-8|access-date=29 March 2021}}</ref> Young Ernst was excited by what he found, and set about trying all conceivable reactions, some of which resulted in explosions that terrified his parents.<ref name=":2" />

== Education ==
He enrolled in the [[ETH Zurich|Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule]] (ETH) in Zurich to study chemistry and received his diploma in 1957 as a “Diplomierter Ingenieur Chemiker<nowiki>''</nowiki>.<ref>https://ethz.ch/content/dam/ethz/special-interest/chab/chab-dept/department/images/Emeriti/richard_ernst/Autobiography2010.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}</ref> He was disappointed in the course content, so conducted further research and taught himself quantum mechanics and thermodynamics in his spare time.<ref name=":2" /> After a break to complete his military service, Ernst earned his Ph.D. in [[physical chemistry]] in 1962<ref name=ernstphd>{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |first=Richard R.|last=Ernst |title=Kernresonanz-Spektroskopie mit stochastischen Hochfrequenzfeldern |publisher=[[Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich]] |date=1962 |url=http://e-collection.library.ethz.ch/view/eth:33063 |doi=10.3929/ethz-a-000091764|hdl=20.500.11850/133369 }}</ref> from ETH Zurich.<ref>[http://www.chab.ethz.ch/personen/emeritus/rernst Richard R. Ernst], ETH Zurich Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, http://www.chab.ethz.ch/personen/emeritus/rernst (Retrieved 18 April 2016)</ref> His dissertation was on [[nuclear magnetic resonance]] in the field of physical chemistry.<ref name=Nobel/>

== Career ==
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 into assistant professor in 1970 and associate professor in 1972. From 1976, Richard R. Ernst was Full Professor of Physical Chemistry.<ref name=":0" />

Ernst led a research group dedicated to magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and 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 [[biopolymer]]s in solution collaborating with Professor [[Kurt Wüthrich]]. He also participated in the study of intra-molecular dynamics.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://chab.ethz.ch/en/the-department/people/emeriti/emeriti-homepages/richard-ernst.html|title=Prof. Dr. Richard R. Ernst|website=chab.ethz.ch|language=en|access-date=23 April 2020}}</ref>

==Awards and honours==
[[File:Science and Peace - Richard Ernst.webm|thumb|left|Richard R. Ernst, UNESCO 2011]]

Ernst was a foreign fellow of the Estonian Academy of Sciences (elected 2002),<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.akadeemia.ee/en/membership/abc/| title = Estonian Academy of Sciences, Membership| access-date = 15 September 2017| archive-date = 3 March 2012| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120303115841/http://www.akadeemia.ee/en/membership/abc/| url-status = dead}}</ref> the [[US National Academy of Sciences]], the [[Royal Society|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]].<ref>[http://www.bas.org.bd/list-of-fellows/userslist.html List of Fellows of Bangladesh Academy of Sciences] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100415000333/http://www.bas.org.bd/list-of-fellows/userslist.html |date=15 April 2010 }}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title= Richard R. Ernst|url= https://ssnmr.ethz.ch/the-group/people/person-detail.html?persid=77857|language=en|access-date=10 June 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Rooney|first=Terrie M.|title=Contemporary authors. V. 158|date=1998|publisher=Gale|others=Peacock, Scot.|isbn=0-7876-1185-9|location=Detroit|pages=114|oclc=37926306}}</ref> He was elected a [[List of Fellows of the Royal Society elected in 1993|Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in 1993]].<ref name=formemrs/> He was awarded the [[John Gamble Kirkwood]] Medal in 1989.<ref>{{cite web |title=Kirkwood Award |url=https://www.acsnewhaven.org/Kirkwood-award |website=ACS New Haven |access-date=17 January 2020}}</ref>

In 1991, Ernst was on an aeroplane flying over the Atlantic when he discovered he had been awarded The Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He was invited into the cockpit, where he was given a radio to talk to the Nobel committee. Here they told him he was being honoured "for his contributions to the development of the methodology of high resolution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy".<ref name=":2" /><ref>"The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1991". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 10 November 2015. <http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1991/></ref>

Ernst was a member of the World Knowledge Dialogue Scientific Board. He was awarded the [[Marcel Benoist Prize]] in 1986, the [[Wolf Prize in Chemistry]] in 1991,<ref name=Swissinfo>{{cite news|title=Richard Ernst, father of the MRI, dies aged 87|url=https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/richard-ernst--father-of-the-mri--dies-aged-87/46687642|date=8 June 2021|access-date=8 June 2021|publisher=Swissinfo}}</ref> and [[Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize]] of [[Columbia University]] in 1991.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.cumc.columbia.edu/horwitz/| title = The Official Site of Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize| date = 11 November 2022}}</ref> He was also awarded the [[Tadeusz Reichstein|Tadeus Reichstein]] Medal in 2000<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.saphw.ch/en/awards/reichstein-medal|title=Reichstein Medal {{!}} Swiss Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences SAPhS|website=www.saphw.ch|language=en|access-date=2 April 2017}}</ref> and the [[Order of the Star of Romania]] in 2004.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://legislatie.just.ro/Public/DetaliiDocument/49281 | title=DECRET 18 16/01/2004 – Portal Legislativ}}</ref>  He also held [[Honorary degree|Honorary Doctorates]] from the [[Technical University of Munich]], [[École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne|EPF Lausanne]], [[University of Zurich]], [[University of Antwerp|University Antwerpen]], [[Babeș-Bolyai University|Babes-Bolyai University]], and [[University of Montpellier|University Montpellier]].<ref name=":1" />

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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vimooz.com/festivalticker/2009/10/2nd-annual-bel-air-film-festival-announces-line-up-and-honorees/|title=Film Festival Ticker|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091111032333/http://www.vimooz.com/festivalticker/2009/10/2nd-annual-bel-air-film-festival-announces-line-up-and-honorees/|archive-date=11 November 2009}}</ref> In 2022, another movie about Richard R. Ernst premiered at the Cameo cinema in Winterthur, produced by Lukas Schwarzenbacher and Susanne Schmid. The documentary contains a retrospective of Richard R. Ernsts life, which was filmed only a few months before his death.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lebensbilanz von Nobelpreisträger auf Film festgehalten |url=https://84xo.ch/kultur/lebensbilanz-eines-nobelpreistraegers-filmisch-festgehalten |access-date=2022-06-05 |website=84XO |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220131191643/https://84xo.ch/kultur/lebensbilanz-eines-nobelpreistraegers-filmisch-festgehalten |archive-date=31 January 2022 |language=de}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Ernst was married to Magdalena until his death.<ref name=AFP>{{cite news|title=Nobel-winning MRI pioneer Richard Ernst dies|url=https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/nobel-winning-mri-pioneer-richard-ernst-dies|date=8 June 2021|access-date=8 June 2021|newspaper=The Straits Times|location=Singapore|agency=Agence France-Presse}}</ref> Together, they had three children: Anna Magdalena, Katharina Elisabeth and Hans-Martin Walter.<ref name=Nobel/> Besides toiling with his work, Ernst also enjoyed music and art, specifically Tibetan scroll art. Using scientific techniques, Ernst would research the pigments on the scrolls to learn about their geographic origin and age.<ref name="Anthes"/>

Ernst died on 4 June 2021 in Winterthur at the age of 87.<ref name=AFP/><ref name=Swissinfo/>

== Selected bibliography ==
* ''Principles of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance in One and Two Dimensions'', Clarendon Press, 1987<ref>{{Cite book|last=Ernst|first=Richard R.|title=Principles of nuclear magnetic resonance in one and two dimensions|date=1987|publisher=Clarendon Press|others=Bodenhausen, Geoffrey., Wokaun, Alexander.|isbn=0-19-855629-2|location=Oxford [Oxfordshire]|oclc=12804280}}</ref>
* ''Richard R. Ernst: Nobelpreisträger aus Winterthur'', Hier und Jetzt, Baden 2020
* Alois Feusi: [https://www.nzz.ch/zuerich/richard-ernst-chemiker-aus-winterthur-revolutioniert-die-medizin-ld.1556522 ''Richard Ernst: Der Selbstzweifler, dem der Nobelpreis peinlich war.'' Summary of his autobiography.] Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 21 May 2020. Retrieved 22 May 2020

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Nobelprize|name=Richard R. Ernst}}

{{FRS 1993}}
{{Nobel Prize in Chemistry Laureates 1976-2000}}
{{1991 Nobel Prize winners}}
{{Wolf Prize in Chemistry}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ernst, Richard Robert}}
[[Category:1933 births]]
[[Category:2021 deaths]]
[[Category:Academic staff of ETH Zurich]]
[[Category:Nobel laureates in Chemistry]]
[[Category:Swiss Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:Swiss physical chemists]]
[[Category:Wolf Prize in Chemistry laureates]]
[[Category:People from Winterthur]]
[[Category:ETH Zurich alumni]]
[[Category:Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Foreign members of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Fellows of Bangladesh Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Members of the Estonian Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Foreign members of the Russian Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Foreign fellows of the Indian National Science Academy]]
[[Category:Members of Academia Europaea]]
[[Category:Nuclear magnetic resonance]]
[[Category:Spectroscopists]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
[[Category:Members of the National Academy of Medicine]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Physical Society]]