Ernst, Richard R.

Richard R. Ernst, in full Richard Robert Ernst, (born August 14, 1933, Winterthur, Switzerland—died June 4, 2021, Winterthur), Swiss chemist and teacher who in 1991 won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his development of techniques for high-resolution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Ernst’s refinements made NMR techniques a basic and indispensable tool in chemistry and also extended their usefulness to other sciences.

Ernst received both a B.A. in chemistry (1957) and a Ph.D. in physical chemistry (1962) from the Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich. From 1963 to 1968 he worked as a research chemist in Palo Alto, California. In 1966, working with an American colleague, Ernst discovered that the sensitivity of NMR techniques (hitherto limited to analysis of only a few nuclei) could be dramatically increased by replacing the slow, sweeping radio waves traditionally used in NMR spectroscopy with short, intense pulses. His discovery enabled analysis of a great many more types of nuclei and smaller amounts of materials. In 1968 Ernst returned to Switzerland to teach at his alma mater; he was made assistant professor in 1970 and full professor in 1976 before retiring in 1998.

His second major contribution to the field of NMR spectroscopy was a technique that enabled a high-resolution “two-dimensional” study of larger molecules than had previously been accessible to NMR. With Ernst’s refinements, scientists were able to determine the three-dimensional structure of organic and inorganic compounds and of biological macromolecules such as proteins; to study the interaction between biological molecules and other substances such as metal ions, water, and drugs; to identify chemical species; and to study the rates of chemical reactions.

Ernst also was credited with many inventions and held several patents in his field. Science + Dharma = Social Responsibility (2009) is a documentary about his life and work.