Quick Facts
Biography
Richard Robert Ernst (born 14 August 1933) is a Swiss physical chemist and Nobel Laureate.
Born in Winterthur, Switzerland, Ernst was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1991 for his contributions towards the development of Fourier transform Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy while at Varian Associates, Palo Alto and the subsequent development of multi-dimensional NMR techniques. These underpin applications to both to chemistry with NMR spectroscopy and to medicine with Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).
Education
Ernst received both his diploma in chemistry in 1957 and his Ph.D. in physical chemistry in 1962 from ETH Zurich.
Awards and honours
Ernst is a foreign fellow of the Bangladesh Academy of Sciences. He was elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in 1993. He was awarded the John Gamble Kirkwood Medal in 1989. 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"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 and University of Zurich.
Ernst is member of the World Knowledge Dialogue Scientific Board. Ernst was awarded the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize of Columbia University in 1991. He was also awarded the Tadeus Reichstein Medal in 2000 and the Romanian National Medal in 2004.
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.