Endel Lippmaa, a prominent Estonian scientist and polymath and one of the early pioneers of NMR and its applications in analytic chemistry, solid-state spectroscopy, and beyond, died on 30 July 2015.
In the late 1950s, when NMR techniques were being rapidly developed in the West, Estonia was isolated behind the Iron Curtain. Nevertheless, using his countless talents, including building vacuum-tube-based electronics, Lippmaa managed to assemble a functional NMR spectrometer. It was the first not only in Estonia but arguably in all the Soviet bloc countries. The hallmark of Lippmaa’s approach to science was in creating innovative advanced instrumentation and using it to discover new physics in such apparently diverse areas as petrochemistry, superconductivity, and neutrino physics. That unique legacy continues today, carried out by his many students and by scientists at Estonia’s National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics (NICPB). Lippmaa founded that institute in the early 1980s as part of the Estonian Academy of Sciences in the capital city of Tallinn; he served as director until 2001 and chairman of the board until 2005.
Born on 15 September 1930 in Tartu, Lippmaa was the only son of prominent Estonian geobotanist Teodor Lippmaa. Tragedy struck in 1942, when a random aviation bomb dropped on the Lippmaas’ home in Tartu and killed everyone in the family except Endel, who was lucky enough to be attending a movie in town.
Lippmaa attended the Tallinn University of Technology; he received his undergraduate degree with a major in oil-shale technology in 1953 and his PhD in chemistry in 1956 under the auspices of Agu Aarna. While performing standard chemical analysis of oil-shale petrochemical samples for his PhD thesis, he realized the enormous potential of NMR in analytic chemistry and in revealing the properties and composition of materials and matter in general. Using his partially self-built NMR instrumentation, Lippmaa and the research group he initiated at the Institute of Cybernetics of the Estonian Academy of Sciences studied the structure of organic compounds. That work led to his doctor of sciences degree in physics and mathematics from the Institute of Chemical Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR in 1969. His thesis was entitled “Overhauser’s nuclear effect and structure of organic compounds.” In 1971 he was awarded full professorship of chemical physics and physical chemistry at the Institute of Cybernetics.
In the 1970s, when most NMR spectroscopists’ attention was focused on hydrogen-1 nuclei, Lippmaa spearheaded the techniques for detecting and analyzing other nuclei, such as carbon-13 and silicon-29. As is now well known, those other nuclei are essential in the study of biological systems and in the spectacular success of modern semiconductor electronics technology. His work on 29Si spectroscopy of silicates remains frequently cited to this day. Another breakthrough achievement of Lippmaa’s in the NMR field was the development of a high-resolution solid-state method using specially constructed sample spinners; the method, which he originated at the NICPB, is still in use around the world.
Lippmaa devoted much of his creative energy to bolstering basic research in Estonia, especially by advocating major government investments in the institutes then run by the Estonian Academy of Sciences. At the academy he served in numerous key leadership positions, including as a board member from 1975 to 2014, as academician-secretary from 1999 to 2004, as head of the division of astronomy and physics from 1977 to 1982, and as chairman of the Energy Council from 2007 to 2010.
Lippmaa was a world-renowned expert in chemical physics, applications of petrochemicals, electronics, nuclear and particle physics, and environmental science. In recognition of his achievements, he received Estonia’s National Science Prize in 2000, the Order of the National Coat of Arms second class, and other honors.
Among younger generations of Estonians, Lippmaa is most frequently associated with the crucial role he played in the late 1980s and the 1990s in helping their country regain political independence from the USSR and in reestablishing the Republic of Estonia. As an Estonian delegate to the USSR’s Congress of People’s Deputies in 1989–91, he put his remarkable powers of persuasion to excellent use in making Estonia’s break from the union a more palatable idea for Moscow; for example, he pointed out the implications of the infamous Molotov–Ribbentrop pact of 1939. In the years following independence, Lippmaa served as Estonia’s minister for Eastern affairs in 1990–91, as minister of European affairs in 1995–96, and as a member of the Riigikogu, Estonia’s parliament, in 1996–99. He combined his many talents with his keen scientific mind and helped in the rebuilding of many state institutions, which are thriving today. He was recognized by the public in 1999 as one of the 100 great Estonians of the 20th century.
Endel Lippmaa was a scientist in the broadest sense and a remarkable individual. He and his life’s work will continue to benefit science and inspire many generations of scientists to come.
