'A famous philosopher once said that if you only understand chemistry, you don't understand that either.' The Nobel Prize winner and ETH professor Richard R. Ernst is convinced that one needs a broad horizon in order to understand complex issues in a certain field. In his conversation, the scientist continued to stress that he considers a wide range of interests as being extremely important for each individual person. Because the ability to have many types of experiences and to understand interdependencies can lead us to a type of freedom that brings us a little closer to happiness. During the conversation the Nobel Prize winner keeps drawing surprising parallels between such different fields as chemistry and music or chemistry and Tibetan art. Having said that, he also emphasizes that the way in which these different fields can complement each other in their differences is of primary importance for the creativity and innovatory capability of scientists and people in general.

For this reason, the Nobel Prize winner appreciates the equipment produced by BUCHI, as they allow the chemist a lot of scope for innovation and inspiration. 'The equipment developed and sold by BUCHI are made of glass in the proverbial sense.' According to Professor Richard R. Ernst, this has the enormous advantage in that, when working with BUCHI utensils, one does not lose 'the feeling for the process'. The researcher emphasizes that one's hands are extremely important and that mental work should proceed together with manual work and sensory perception. This is also the reason why the Nobel Prize winner is much happier working in the laboratory than in an office. 'For a chemist it is very important to carry out experiments with his own hands and to be able to intervene in certain processes.'He finds that the equipment produced by BUCHI are ideal for this approach.

After obtaining his doctorate at the ETH, the chemist had a strong urge to do something useful and practical and go to the USA in order to break out of the ivory tower. He worked there in industrial development and spent five very interesting years over there. To this day, he seems to regret his return to the ETH: 'After about nine or ten months I had a nervous breakdown!' However, after these initial difficulties the chemist had a very productive work phase at the ETH which finally led him to win the Nobel Prize in 1991. The news that he had won the Nobel Prize for chemistry reached the researcher in a plane high above the clouds over Scotland. 'The captain came to me and asked : "Are you Mr. Richard R. Ernst?" And I answered: "Yes, but please leave me alone, I'm trying to catch a little sleep". However, when the captain suggested that perhaps now was not the right time for sleep because he had just won the Nobel Prize, he naturally was elated. 'These were really wonderful moments on this flight from Moscow to New York!' At the end of the conversation,Christian Zwicky, Director of Innovation & Marketing, asks the Nobel Prize winner for some advice regarding BUCHI Labortechnik AG's further development. "I would say, carry on working as you have up until now! Because you are a shining example for the manufacturing industry.Every day you produce something completely sound and reliable!"


Read the whole interview here