Ernst K. Zinner: Difference between revisions
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| name = Ernst K. Zinner |
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| birth_date = {{Birth date|1937|01|30}} |
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| birth_place = Sankt Peter in der Au, [[Austria]] |
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| death_date = {{Death date and age|2015|07|30|1937|01|30}} |
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| occupation = Astrophysics |
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'''Ernst Kunibert Zinner''' (30 January 1937–30 July 2015) was an [[astrophysicist]]. |
'''Ernst Kunibert Zinner''' (30 January 1937–30 July 2015) was an [[astrophysicist]]. |
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== Personal life == |
== Personal life == |
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Zinner was born |
Zinner was born on 30 January 1937{{fact|date=August 2015}} at [[Sankt Peter in der Au]], [[Austria]],<ref name="escholarship.org"/> a small town about 100 miles west of [[Vienna]]. Although his father, Kunibert Zinner, was a renowned sculptor, he was more interested in nature and science as a boy.<ref name="escholarship.org"/> Zinner had four younger siblings, and relatives in Austria. He was married to [[Brigitte Wopenka]]; they had a son, [[Max Giacobini Zinner]], who lives in [[New York City]].<ref name="wustl" /> |
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He obtained an undergraduate degree in physics from the [[Vienna University of Technology]] and, in the mid-1960s, moved to [[St. Louis]] to attend [[Washington University]]. He earned his Ph.D. there in 1972 in [[high energy physics]].<ref name="wustl" /><ref name="Washington" /> He then held positions at: |
He obtained an undergraduate degree in physics from the [[Vienna University of Technology]] and, in the mid-1960s, moved to [[St. Louis]] to attend [[Washington University]]. He earned his Ph.D. there in 1972 in [[high energy physics]].<ref name="wustl" /><ref name="Washington" /> He then held positions at: |
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Revision as of 20:15, 21 August 2015
Ernst K. Zinner | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 30, 1937 Sankt Peter in der Au, Austria |
| Died | July 30, 2015 (aged 78) |
| Occupation | Astrophysics |
Ernst Kunibert Zinner (30 January 1937–30 July 2015) was an astrophysicist.
Personal life
Zinner was born on 30 January 1937[citation needed] at Sankt Peter in der Au, Austria,[1] a small town about 100 miles west of Vienna. Although his father, Kunibert Zinner, was a renowned sculptor, he was more interested in nature and science as a boy.[1] Zinner had four younger siblings, and relatives in Austria. He was married to Brigitte Wopenka; they had a son, Max Giacobini Zinner, who lives in New York City.[2]
He obtained an undergraduate degree in physics from the Vienna University of Technology and, in the mid-1960s, moved to St. Louis to attend Washington University. He earned his Ph.D. there in 1972 in high energy physics.[2][3] He then held positions at:
- Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics (1980)[3]
- Vienna University of Technology (1980-82)[3]
- University of Pavia (1989)[3]
- University of Bern (1994)[3]
- Australian National University (1995)[3]
- Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (2001, 03, 04)[3]
- National Museum of Natural History (France) (2006)[3]
He subsequently joined the Laboratory for Space Sciences, part of the McDonnell Center for Space Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. He remained there the rest of his career, eventually becoming a Research Professor of Physics and Earth and Planetary Sciences, and retired early in 2015.[2][3]
He 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]
After his death, an "Ernst Zinner Scholarship Fund" was established to support cello students at Webster University.[2]
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 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 our solar system, and they can provide information about the history of stellar nucleosynthesis and the formation of the solar system.[3]
He 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.[4][5] Zinner and his colleagues found minute amounts of stardust - diamond and silicon carbide - that originated outside the solar system.
Identification of these grains involved a measurement technique called secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). Zinner was widely considered one of the leading authorities on the instrument,[1] and he trained scientists worldwide in its use. The work led to the emergence of a new field of study, the laboratory analysis of stardust,[6] which opened up new insights into the evolution of stars and nucleosynthesis of the elements.
His research has involved Ion microprobe analysis since 1974. 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]
Awards and honours
- 1987 Antarctic Service Medal, National Science Foundation[3]
- 1997 J. Lawrence Smith Medal, National Academy of Sciences[7][3]
- 1997 Leonard Medal of the Meteoritical Society[8][3]
- 2010 Merle A. Tuve Fellow of the Carnegie Institution of Washington[9]
- 2011 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science[10]
References
- ^ a b c "Ernst Zinner, lithic astronomer". eScholarship.
- ^ a b c d e "Obituary: Ernst K. Zinner, astrophysicist and cosmochemist, 78". Washington University in St Louis. 6 August 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p "Ernst K. Zinner". Washington University in St Louis. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
- ^ "Evidence for interstellar SiC in the Murray carbonaceous meteorite". nature.com.
- ^ "Large isotopic anomalies of Si, C, N and noble gases in interstellar silicon carbide from the Murray meteorite". nature.com.
- ^ "Laboratory for Space Sciences". presolar.wustl.edu.
- ^ "J. Lawrence Smith Medal". nasonline.org.
- ^ "Leonard Medal". meteoriticalsociety.org.
- ^ "Tuve Fellow". dtm.carnegiescience.edu.
- ^ "AAAS Members Elected as Fellows". aaas.org.