Date: 21 January 2010
Time: 15h00
Venue: Senate Hall, Administration Building, University of Pretoria

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance or NMR as it is abbreviated to by scientists, has developed into a most powerful tool for obtaining revealing insights into chemical systems and processes, into secrets of molecular biology and the function of proteins and nucleic acids. NMR can also be utilized into the human organism for understanding of the functioning of human organs; for studying metabolism; for exploring the human brain and most importantly, for diagnosing diseases in clinical medicine.


Professor Ernst was awarded a Nobel prize in Chemistry in 1991 for his contributions towards the development of techniques for high-resolution NMR. In addition to the Nobel prize for Chemistry in 1991, he also received numerous others honours including the Wolf Prize for Chemistry (1991); the Horwitz Prize (1991) and the Marcel Benoist Prize (1986).

When talking about the Prof Ernst’s visit to the University of Pretoria, Professor Egmont Rohwer from UP’s Chemistry department hailed Prof Ernst as an international scientist who has made exceptional contributions with regard to chemistry; bio-chemistry as well as in the medical field.

“Most countries have hosted Prof Ernst and it will be his first visit to South Africa, thus making us, University of Pretoria, privileged. It is an honour to receive a lecture from a scientist of a Nobel prize calibre and we are looking forward to having him at our institution”, said Professor Rohwer.