Alexander Pines (1945 – 2024)

Alexander Pines (1945 – 2024)

Author: ChemistryViews

Alexander Pines, Professor Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA, passed away on November 1, 2024.

Alexander Pines was a leading researcher in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, focusing on techniques for non-liquid samples that helped shape modern solid-state NMR. He introduced methods such as cross-polarisation NMR for detecting dilute spins such as carbon-13, which greatly increased sensitivity in solid samples. His work also pioneered multiple quantum spectroscopy and zero-field NMR, extending the applications of NMR in chemistry.

Alexander Pines’ later research focused on extending the capabilities of NMR and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) through innovations such as laser-polarised xenon for improved imaging and miniaturised NMR/MRI devices for microfluidic studies. He also contributed to mobile NMR, ultra-low field NMR, and functionalised biosensors, making NMR tools more versatile across disciplines.

 

Alexander Pines, born in 1945, studied chemistry and mathematics at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, earning his Ph.D. in chemical physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, USA in 1972 and joined the UC Berkeley faculty later that year.

Among many other honors, Alexander Pines received the Faraday Medal of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) in 2004, the F. A. Cotton Medal for Excellence in Chemical Research of the American Chemical Society (ACS) in 1999,  the Wolf Prize for Chemistry (together with Richard R. Ernst) in 1991, and the Langmuir Medal of the American Physical Society (APS) in 1998.

 

Selected Publications

 

 

 

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