Cataloging of the Richard R. Ernst personal papers (ErNE)

Aim of the project

From January 2024, the scientific personal papers of Nobel Prize winner Richard R. Ernst will be archived and indexed. In addition, the very extensive documents will be conserved. After completion of the project at the end of 2025, the documents will be searchable in the archive database of the University Archives and in the ETH Library catalog and will be accessible in the Collections and Archives Reading Room.

Description of the project

Richard R. Ernst was Associate Professor from 1972 and Full Professor of Physical Chemistry at ETH Zurich from 1976. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1991 for his revolutionary development of magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The work of his research group, which he led until his retirement in 1998, contributed to the development of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which has since become indispensable in medicine. In cooperation with Kurt Wüthrich, Professor of Biophysics at ETH Zurich and also a Nobel Prize winner since 2002, Richard R. Ernst also developed fundamental methods for determining the structure of biopolymers in solution.

Since 2018, the ETH Zurich University Archives have gradually taken over the documents of the Nobel Prize winner, who died in 2021. In accordance with his wishes, the extensive personal papers and autographs is now to be made accessible to the interested public and to historical research.

Time frame

January 2024 to December 2025