Beautiful mind

Updated on: Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Richard Robert Ernst was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1991, for his role in developing the methodology of high resolution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR).

He was one of the key scientists involved in developing the MRI scanner, which is used in hospitals the world over. We had the privilege of talking to the Nobel laureate on his visit to India - about what really makes a scientist and how he spends his free time at home.

Born in 1933 in Winterthur, Switzerland, Dr. Ernst completed his PhD in 1962 from ETH Zurich, in the discipline of Physical Chemistry and with a dissertation on NMR.

This work paved the way for the development of the MRI scanner. “In today’s life, there are more rules than laws that need to be tended to, which every youngster should know and understand.

I want them to know that the future depends on the difference they can make today. I teach them to concentrate on solving one particular equation, because revelations come from joining other sides,” he explained.

“Education is what remains after one forgets everything one learned at school,” he said, adding that all of us need role models. Quoting Gandhi, he continued, “We must be the change we want to see. So if we want the younger generation to be as curious as we were, it is important that we keep one thought in mind when we teach - The most efficient way to education is to stimulate our students’ curiosity.

“On one of my previous visits to India, I went to Nepal and Katmandu. While visiting the monk shrines, I was really taken aback by the art that they have preserved in some of the monasteries.

I have my own personal collection of Tibetan art that I have put up all over my house. Every piece of Tibetan art either has an epic story to tell, or carries a tale that really intrigues me.”

Though Richard still continues to lecture, these days he spends a lot of his time in the basement of his home, restoring Tibetan paintings - something he has become inordinately fond of.

About this hobby of his, he says, “Even we need a break from our work as scientists. I spend a lot of time in the basement of my home with my second girlfriend — a pigment analysis machine — who right now, is going through a tough phase!” He laughed, adding, “She just needs a bit of tweaking.”

He elaborates further about his love for Tibetan art, “I do not believe in any religion. But Buddhism teaches us values and thoughts.

Being a scientist doesn’t mean that we are always equating formulae and finding derivations. Just like human beings have two feet, every scientist needs to balance things out, whether it is our lives or the way we work. Collaborating with ideas and minds will always be the key to newer discoveries,” he said, in conclusion.

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