Professor Richard Ernst who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1991) for his methodological developments within nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy has been awarded the UCD Ulysses Medal in recognition of his global contribution to science.
As a result of Professor Ernst’s scientific developments, which enabled a dramatic increase in both the sensitivity and the resolution of the instruments, NMR spectroscopy has possibly become the most important instrumental measuring technique in chemistry.
Today, NMR spectroscopy is used in almost every branch of chemistry in universities and industrial laboratories alike. It is also used in other sciences like physics, biology and medicine. The primary application of NMR is to determine molecular structure in solution. NMR is also used by chemists to investigate interactions between different molecules, to study molecular motion, to retrieve information on the rate of chemical reactions.
After receiving the UCD Ulysses Medal from UCD President, Dr Hugh Brady, Professor Ernst delivered a special lecture to the meeting of Irish NMR at the UCD Conway Institute outlining the various contributions to NMR of those who have been honoured by a Nobel Prize and others who may have equally deserved to receive the honour.
The UCD Ulysses Medal is the highest honour that University College Dublin can bestow. It was inaugurated in 2005, as part of the university’s sesquicentennial celebrations, to highlight the ‘creative brilliance’ of UCD alumnus James Joyce. It is awarded to individuals whose work has made an outstanding global contribution.
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