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'''Ernst Kunibert Zinner''' (30 January 1937 – 30 July 2015) was an Austrian [[astrophysicist]], known for his pioneering work in the analysis of stardust in the laboratory. He long had a position in the United States at the Laboratory for Space Physics (later part of the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences) at [[Washington University in St. Louis]], Missouri, where he had earned his doctorate. He came to the United States in the 1960s for graduate work. In addition, Zinner regularly taught at European universities, and other American institutions.
'''Ernst Kunibert Zinner''' (30 January 1937 – 30 July 2015) was an Austrian [[astrophysicist]], known for his pioneering work in the analysis of stardust in the laboratory. He long had a position in the United States at the Laboratory for Space Physics (later part of the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences) at [[Washington University in St. Louis]], Missouri, where he had earned his doctorate. He came to the United States in the 1960s for graduate work. In addition, Zinner regularly taught at European universities, and other American institutions.


== Personal life ==
== Personal life ==
Zinner was born on 30 January 1937 at [[Steyr]], [[Austria]],<ref name="escholarship.org"/> a small town about 100 miles west of [[Vienna]]. Although his father, Kunibert Zinner, was a renowned sculptor, Ernst was more interested as a boy in nature and science.<ref name="escholarship.org"/> Zinner's four younger siblings, and other relatives, live in Austria.
Zinner was born on 30 January 1937 at [[Steyr]], [[Austria]],<ref name="escholarship.org"/> a small town about 100 miles west of [[Vienna]]. Although his father, Kunibert Zinner, was a renowned sculptor, Ernst was more interested as a boy in nature and science.<ref name="escholarship.org"/> Zinner's four younger siblings, and other relatives, live in Austria.


While on sabbatical later in his career, he met Brigitte Wopenka, a faculty member of the Institute of Analytical Chemistry in [[Vienna]]. She returned with him to the United States and they married in 1980. They had a son, Max Giacobini Zinner. The son now lives in [[New York City]].<ref name="wustl" />
While on sabbatical later in his career, he met Brigitte Wopenka, a faculty member of the Institute of Analytical Chemistry in [[Vienna]]. She returned with him to the United States and they married in 1980. They had a son, Max Giacobini Zinner. The son now lives in [[New York City]].<ref name="wustl" />


==Education and career==
==Education and career==
Zinner obtained an undergraduate degree in physics from the [[Vienna University of Technology]] and started working. In the mid-1960s, he moved to [[St. Louis, Missouri]] to attend [[Washington University]] for graduate work. He earned his Ph.D. there in 1972 in [[high energy physics]].<ref name="wustl" />
Zinner obtained an undergraduate degree in physics from the [[Vienna University of Technology]] and started working. In the mid-1960s, he moved to [[St. Louis, Missouri]] to attend [[Washington University]] for graduate work. He earned his Ph.D. there in 1972 in [[high energy physics]].<ref name="wustl" />


That year he was invited by [[Robert M. Walker (physicist)|Robert M. Walker]] to work at the Laboratory for Space Physics (later part of the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences) at Washington University.<ref name="wustl" /><ref name="Washington" /><ref name="CalTech" />
That year he was invited by [[Robert M. Walker (physicist)|Robert M. Walker]] to work at the Laboratory for Space Physics (later part of the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences) at Washington University.<ref name="wustl" /><ref name="Washington" /><ref name="Caltech" />


He also held positions at:
He also held positions at:
* [[Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics]] (1980)<ref name="CalTech" />
* [[Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics]] (1980)<ref name="Caltech" />
* [[Vienna University of Technology]] (1980–82)<ref name="CalTech" />
* [[Vienna University of Technology]] (1980–82)<ref name="Caltech" />
* [[University of Pavia]] (1989)<ref name="CalTech" />
* [[University of Pavia]] (1989)<ref name="Caltech" />
* [[University of Bern]] (1994)<ref name="CalTech" />
* [[University of Bern]] (1994)<ref name="Caltech" />
* [[Australian National University]] (1995)<ref name="CalTech" />
* [[Australian National University]] (1995)<ref name="Caltech" />
* [[Max Planck Institute for Chemistry]] (2001, 03, 04)<ref name="CalTech" />
* [[Max Planck Institute for Chemistry]] (2001, 03, 04)<ref name="Caltech" />
* [[National Museum of Natural History (France)]] (2006)<ref name="CalTech" />
* [[National Museum of Natural History (France)]] (2006)<ref name="Caltech" />
* [[Carnegie Institution for Science]] (2010)<ref name="CalTech" />
* [[Carnegie Institution for Science]] (2010)<ref name="Caltech" />
* [[University of Perugia]] (2011)<ref name="CalTech" />
* [[University of Perugia]] (2011)<ref name="Caltech" />
* [[University of Granada]] (2013)<ref name="CalTech" />
* [[University of Granada]] (2013)<ref name="Caltech" />


Zinner continued to work at the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences for the rest of his career, in 1989 being named as a Research Professor of Physics and Earth and Planetary Sciences. He retired early in 2015.<ref name="wustl" /><ref name="Washington" />
Zinner continued to work at the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences for the rest of his career, in 1989 being named as a Research Professor of Physics and Earth and Planetary Sciences. He retired early in 2015.<ref name="wustl" /><ref name="Washington" />
Line 48: Line 48:


== Research ==
== Research ==
Zinner's PhD research was in [[high energy physics]]. He subsequently studied the effects that the environment within our solar system would have on the [[moon]] and the parent bodies of [[meteor]]s, using nuclear particle tracks, micrometeoid craters, and elements in the solar wind. His later research was focused on the information contained in presolar grains carried by early [[meteorites]]. These grains were formed in atmospheres and explosions of stars outside of earth's solar system. They can provide information about the history of stellar [[nucleosynthesis]] and the formation of the solar system.<ref name="Washington" />
Zinner's PhD research was in [[high energy physics]]. He subsequently studied the effects that the environment within the [[Solar System]] would have on the [[Moon]] and the parent bodies of [[meteor]]s, using nuclear particle tracks, micrometeoid craters, and elements in the solar wind. His later research was focused on the information contained in presolar grains carried by early [[meteorites]]. These grains were formed in atmospheres and explosions of stars outside of the Solar System. They can provide information about the history of stellar [[nucleosynthesis]] and the formation of the Solar System.<ref name="Washington" />


Since 1974, Zinner's research has involved Ion [[microprobe]] analysis. He has worked with the Cameca IMS 3f instrument since 1982, and the Cameca NanoSIMS instrument since 2000.<ref name="Washington" /> He led the [[Long Duration Exposure Facility]].<ref name="Washington" /> Zinner was instrumental in identifying, for the first time, material in meteorites that pre-dated the formation of the solar system 4.6 billion years ago.<ref name="Nature_31Dec87a" /><ref name="Nature_31Dec87b" /> Zinner and his colleagues found minute amounts of [[presolar grains|stardust]] - diamond and silicon carbide - that originated outside the solar system.<ref name="wustl_presolar" /> Identification of these grains involved a measurement technique called [[secondary ion mass spectrometry]] (SIMS). Zinner and [[Ghislaine Crozaz]] expanded the use of SIMS to examine rare earth elements <ref> {{Cite journal|last1=Zinner|first1=Ernst|last2=Crozaz|first2=Ghislaine|author-link2=Ghislaine Crozaz|date=1986-02-17|title=A method for the quantitative measurement of rare earth elements in the ion microprobe|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0168117686870392|journal=International Journal of Mass Spectrometry and Ion Processes|language=en|volume=69|issue=1|pages=17–38|doi=10.1016/0168-1176(86)87039-2|issn=0168-1176}}</ref> and applied this new technique to measure rare earth elements in thin sections of rocks and minerals.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Crozaz |first1=Ghislaine |author-link1=Ghislaine Crozaz|last2=Zinner |first2=Ernst |title=Ion probe determinations of the rare earth concentrations of individual meteoritic phosphate grains |journal=Earth and Planetary Science Letters |date=1 April 1985 |volume=73 |issue=1 |pages=41–52 |doi=10.1016/0012-821X(85)90033-0}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|date=1989-06-01|title=Plutonium, uranium and rare earths in the phosphates of ordinary chondrites—the quest for a chronometer|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0012821X89900654|journal=Earth and Planetary Science Letters|language=en|volume=93|issue=2|pages=157–169|doi=10.1016/0012-821X(89)90065-4|issn=0012-821X}}</ref>
Since 1974, Zinner's research has involved Ion [[microprobe]] analysis. He has worked with the Cameca IMS 3f instrument since 1982, and the Cameca NanoSIMS instrument since 2000.<ref name="Washington" /> He led the [[Long Duration Exposure Facility]].<ref name="Washington" /> Zinner was instrumental in identifying, for the first time, material in meteorites that pre-dated the formation of the Solar System 4.6 billion years ago.<ref name="Nature_31Dec87a" /><ref name="Nature_31Dec87b" /> Zinner and his colleagues found minute amounts of [[presolar grains|stardust]] - diamond and silicon carbide - that originated outside the solar system.<ref name="wustl_presolar" /> Identification of these grains involved a measurement technique called [[secondary ion mass spectrometry]] (SIMS). Zinner and [[Ghislaine Crozaz]] expanded the use of SIMS to examine rare earth elements <ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Zinner|first1=Ernst|last2=Crozaz|first2=Ghislaine|author-link2=Ghislaine Crozaz|date=1986-02-17|title=A method for the quantitative measurement of rare earth elements in the ion microprobe|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0168117686870392|journal=International Journal of Mass Spectrometry and Ion Processes|language=en|volume=69|issue=1|pages=17–38|doi=10.1016/0168-1176(86)87039-2|bibcode=1986IJMSI..69...17Z |issn=0168-1176}}</ref> and applied this new technique to measure rare earth elements in thin sections of rocks and minerals.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Crozaz |first1=Ghislaine |author-link1=Ghislaine Crozaz|last2=Zinner |first2=Ernst |title=Ion probe determinations of the rare earth concentrations of individual meteoritic phosphate grains |journal=Earth and Planetary Science Letters |date=1 April 1985 |volume=73 |issue=1 |pages=41–52 |doi=10.1016/0012-821X(85)90033-0|bibcode=1985E&PSL..73...41C }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|date=1989-06-01|title=Plutonium, uranium and rare earths in the phosphates of ordinary chondrites—the quest for a chronometer|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0012821X89900654|journal=Earth and Planetary Science Letters|language=en|volume=93|issue=2|pages=157–169|doi=10.1016/0012-821X(89)90065-4|issn=0012-821X|last1=Crozaz |first1=Ghislaine |last2=Pellas |first2=Paul |last3=Bourot-Denise |first3=Michèle |last4=De Chazal |first4=Suzanne M. |last5=Fiéni |first5=Christine |last6=Lundberg |first6=Laura L. |last7=Zinner |first7=Ernst |bibcode=1989E&PSL..93..157C }}</ref>


==Awards and honours==
==Awards and honours==
Line 71: Line 71:
<ref name="smith_medal">{{cite web|url=http://www.nasonline.org/programs/awards/j-lawrence-smith-medal.html|title=J. Lawrence Smith Medal|work=nasonline.org}}</ref>
<ref name="smith_medal">{{cite web|url=http://www.nasonline.org/programs/awards/j-lawrence-smith-medal.html|title=J. Lawrence Smith Medal|work=nasonline.org}}</ref>
<ref name="meteoritical">{{cite web|url=http://meteoriticalsociety.org|title=Leonard Medal|work=meteoriticalsociety.org}}</ref>
<ref name="meteoritical">{{cite web|url=http://meteoriticalsociety.org|title=Leonard Medal|work=meteoriticalsociety.org}}</ref>
<ref name="carnegie_fellow">{{cite web|url=http://home.dtm.ciw.edu/users/ezinner/|title=Tuve Fellow|work=dtm.carnegiescience.edu}}</ref>
<ref name="carnegie_fellow">{{cite web|url=http://home.dtm.ciw.edu/users/ezinner/|title=Tuve Fellow|work=dtm.carnegiescience.edu}}{{Dead link|date=March 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
<ref name="aaas">{{cite web|url=http://www.aaas.org/news/aaas-members-elected-fellows|title=AAAS Members Elected as Fellows|work=aaas.org}}</ref>
<ref name="aaas">{{cite web|url=http://www.aaas.org/news/aaas-members-elected-fellows|title=AAAS Members Elected as Fellows|work=aaas.org}}</ref>
<ref name="Washington">{{cite web | url=https://www.physics.wustl.edu/people/zinner_ernst-k | title=Ernst K. Zinner | publisher=Washington University in St Louis | accessdate=2 August 2015}}</ref>
<ref name="Washington">{{cite web | url=https://www.physics.wustl.edu/people/zinner_ernst-k | title=Ernst K. Zinner | publisher=Washington University in St Louis | accessdate=2 August 2015 | archive-date=6 September 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906023347/http://www.physics.wustl.edu/people/zinner_ernst-k | url-status=dead }}</ref>
<ref name="CalTech">{{cite web | url=http://authors.library.caltech.edu/61969/2/mmc1.pdf | title=Ernst K. Zinner CV | publisher=CalTech | accessdate=30 December 2016}}</ref>
<ref name="Caltech">{{cite web | url=http://authors.library.caltech.edu/61969/2/mmc1.pdf | title=Ernst K. Zinner CV | publisher=Caltech | accessdate=30 December 2016}}</ref>
}}
}}


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[[Category:Austrian physicists]]
[[Category:Austrian physicists]]
[[Category:Astrophysicists]]
[[Category:Astrophysicists]]
[[Category:Physicists from Missouri]]
[[Category:Washington University in St. Louis physicists]]
⚫
[[Category:Washington University physicists]]
[[Category:Scientists from Missouri]]
[[Category:Scientists from Missouri]]
[[Category:Deaths from lymphoma]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in Missouri]]
[[Category:Deaths from lymphoma in the United States]]
⚫
[[Category:Washington University in St. Louis alumni]]
[[Category:TU Wien alumni]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Physical Society]]

Latest revision as of 10:53, 16 August 2024

Not to be confused with Ernst Zinner.
Ernst K. Zinner
Born(1937-01-30)January 30, 1937
Steyr, Austria
DiedJuly 30, 2015(2015-07-30) (aged 78)
Saint Louis, Missouri
NationalityAustrian
EducationVienna University of Technology
Washington University in St. Louis
OccupationAstrophysics

Ernst Kunibert Zinner (30 January 1937 – 30 July 2015) was an Austrian astrophysicist, known for his pioneering work in the analysis of stardust in the laboratory. He long had a position in the United States at the Laboratory for Space Physics (later part of the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences) at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, where he had earned his doctorate. He came to the United States in the 1960s for graduate work. In addition, Zinner regularly taught at European universities, and other American institutions.

Personal life

[edit]

Zinner was born on 30 January 1937 at Steyr, Austria,[1] a small town about 100 miles west of Vienna. Although his father, Kunibert Zinner, was a renowned sculptor, Ernst was more interested as a boy in nature and science.[1] Zinner's four younger siblings, and other relatives, live in Austria.

While on sabbatical later in his career, he met Brigitte Wopenka, a faculty member of the Institute of Analytical Chemistry in Vienna. She returned with him to the United States and they married in 1980. They had a son, Max Giacobini Zinner. The son now lives in New York City.[2]

Education and career

[edit]

Zinner obtained an undergraduate degree in physics from the Vienna University of Technology and started working. In the mid-1960s, he moved to St. Louis, Missouri to attend Washington University for graduate work. He earned his Ph.D. there in 1972 in high energy physics.[2]

That year he was invited by Robert M. Walker to work at the Laboratory for Space Physics (later part of the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences) at Washington University.[2][3][4]

He also held positions at:

Zinner continued to work at the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences for the rest of his career, in 1989 being named as a Research Professor of Physics and Earth and Planetary Sciences. He retired early in 2015.[2][3]

Zinner was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Geophysical Union, and Sigma Xi. He was also a fellow of the American Physical Society, the Meteoritical Society, the Geochemical Society, and the European Association of Geochemistry.[3]

Zinner had mantle cell lymphoma for the last 19 years of his life. He died on 30 July 2015 at the age of 78.[2]

Research

[edit]

Zinner's PhD research was in high energy physics. He subsequently studied the effects that the environment within the Solar System would have on the Moon and the parent bodies of meteors, using nuclear particle tracks, micrometeoid craters, and elements in the solar wind. His later research was focused on the information contained in presolar grains carried by early meteorites. These grains were formed in atmospheres and explosions of stars outside of the Solar System. They can provide information about the history of stellar nucleosynthesis and the formation of the Solar System.[3]

Since 1974, Zinner's research has involved Ion microprobe analysis. He has worked with the Cameca IMS 3f instrument since 1982, and the Cameca NanoSIMS instrument since 2000.[3] He led the Long Duration Exposure Facility.[3] Zinner was instrumental in identifying, for the first time, material in meteorites that pre-dated the formation of the Solar System 4.6 billion years ago.[5][6] Zinner and his colleagues found minute amounts of stardust - diamond and silicon carbide - that originated outside the solar system.[7] Identification of these grains involved a measurement technique called secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). Zinner and Ghislaine Crozaz expanded the use of SIMS to examine rare earth elements [8] and applied this new technique to measure rare earth elements in thin sections of rocks and minerals.[9][10]

Awards and honours

[edit]

Legacy

[edit]

After his death, his family established an "Ernst Zinner Scholarship Fund" to support advanced cello students in the Community Music School at Webster University. Zinner had started learning cello at age 55, along with his son, then age 4.[2]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b McKeegan, Kevin D. (July 2007). "Ernst Zinner, lithic astronomer". EScholarship. 42 (7/8): 1045–1054.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Obituary: Ernst K. Zinner, astrophysicist and cosmochemist, 78". Washington University in St Louis. 6 August 2015.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Ernst K. Zinner". Washington University in St Louis. Archived from the original on 6 September 2015. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Ernst K. Zinner CV" (PDF). Caltech. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
  5. ^ Bernatowicz, Thomas; Fraundorf, Gail; Ming, Tang; Anders, Edward; Wopenka, Brigitte; Zinner, Ernst; Fraundorf, Phil (1987). "Evidence for interstellar SiC in the Murray carbonaceous meteorite". Nature. 330 (6150): 728–730. Bibcode:1987Natur.330..728B. doi:10.1038/330728a0. S2CID 4361807.
  6. ^ Zinner, Ernst; Ming, Tang; Anders, Edward (1987). "Large isotopic anomalies of Si, C, N and noble gases in interstellar silicon carbide from the Murray meteorite". Nature. 330 (6150): 730–732. Bibcode:1987Natur.330..730Z. doi:10.1038/330730a0. S2CID 4306270.
  7. ^ "Laboratory for Space Sciences". presolar.wustl.edu.
  8. ^ Zinner, Ernst; Crozaz, Ghislaine (1986-02-17). "A method for the quantitative measurement of rare earth elements in the ion microprobe". International Journal of Mass Spectrometry and Ion Processes. 69 (1): 17–38. Bibcode:1986IJMSI..69...17Z. doi:10.1016/0168-1176(86)87039-2. ISSN 0168-1176.
  9. ^ Crozaz, Ghislaine; Zinner, Ernst (1 April 1985). "Ion probe determinations of the rare earth concentrations of individual meteoritic phosphate grains". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 73 (1): 41–52. Bibcode:1985E&PSL..73...41C. doi:10.1016/0012-821X(85)90033-0.
  10. ^ Crozaz, Ghislaine; Pellas, Paul; Bourot-Denise, Michèle; De Chazal, Suzanne M.; Fiéni, Christine; Lundberg, Laura L.; Zinner, Ernst (1989-06-01). "Plutonium, uranium and rare earths in the phosphates of ordinary chondrites—the quest for a chronometer". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 93 (2): 157–169. Bibcode:1989E&PSL..93..157C. doi:10.1016/0012-821X(89)90065-4. ISSN 0012-821X.
  11. ^ "J. Lawrence Smith Medal". nasonline.org.
  12. ^ "Leonard Medal". meteoriticalsociety.org.
  13. ^ "Tuve Fellow". dtm.carnegiescience.edu.[permanent dead link‍]
  14. ^ "AAAS Members Elected as Fellows". aaas.org.
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