Biography of Richard Ernst

Richard Ernst (born 14 August 1933 in Winterthur; died 4 June 2021 in Winterthur) was a Swiss chemist and academic. In 1991 he received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his contributions to the development of high-resolution nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, or NMR. His work made NMR more sensitive, faster and more widely usable. It became important for chemistry, structural biology and the methodological foundations of later medical imaging.

Winterthur and ETH Zurich

Ernst grew up in Winterthur and developed an early interest in chemistry and technology. He studied at ETH Zurich, where he later earned his doctorate. The connection of mathematical method, precise instrumentation and chemical questions became decisive for his research. After years in industry and research, he returned to ETH and shaped physical chemistry there for decades.

Fourier-transform NMR

A central advance came in the 1960s, when Ernst worked with Weston Anderson. Instead of scanning an NMR spectrum slowly frequency by frequency, they used short radio pulses and then analyzed the signal computationally with the Fourier transform. This made the method much more sensitive. A slow specialist technique became a powerful tool for studying chemical structures more accurately and with smaller sample amounts.

Two-dimensional spectroscopy

In the 1970s Ernst and his coworkers advanced two-dimensional NMR spectroscopy. Such spectra reveal relationships between signals and make complex molecules easier to understand. For chemistry this was a major step, because researchers could see not only individual resonances, but connections within a molecule. These methods later helped in the study of biological macromolecules as well.

Nobel Prize

On 16 October 1991 the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced that Richard Ernst would receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The award honored methodological developments that had made NMR a central measuring instrument of modern chemistry. Ernst's research was not a loud breakthrough in the sense of one spectacular experiment. It consisted of patient improvement of measurement, signal processing and interpretation: exactly where science often becomes lastingly useful.

Later years and legacy

Even after retirement, Ernst remained scientifically and culturally engaged. He was interested in Tibetan art and used scientific methods to study materials and pigments. Richard Ernst died in Winterthur on 4 June 2021. His importance lies in refining a measuring method so that researchers could see, compare and understand molecules more precisely. In that sense, his work became a foundation of modern chemical analysis.