Endel Lippmaa (15 September 1930 – 30 July 2015) was an Estonian academic, politician, founder and chairman of the Science Council of the National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics best known for his work in uncovering crucial documents in the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

annexation in 1940 of Estonia and the other

Baltic states The Baltic states, et, Balti riigid or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term, which currently is used to group three countries: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, ...

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

and Lithuania was illegal. He was also head chairman and professor of chemical physics, physical chemistry, physics, and mathematics at the

Estonian Academy of Sciences Founded in 1938, the Estonian Academy of Sciences ( et, Eesti Teaduste Akadeemia) is Estonia's national academy of science in Tallinn. As with other national academies, it is an independent group of well-known scientists whose stated aim is to ...

and was highly regarded in his wor
into solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)
In 1999, he was voted one of the

100 great Estonians of the 20th century 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

Scientific and Political career

In 1972 Endel Lippmaa was elected as a Member of the

. He served as a member of the Board of the Academy for the period 1975–2014. In 1977-1982 he was Secretary-Academician of the Division of Physics, Mathematics and Engineering, in 1999-2004 Head of the Division of Astronomy and Physics, in 2007-2010 Chairman of the Energy Council of the Academy. During Lippmaa's time working in physics, he wrote a paper on "Structural studies of silicates by solid-state high-resolution silicon-29 NMR,". This paper, now highlighy regarded demonstrated in 1980 that high-resolution NMR spectroscopy could be applied profitably to inorganic samples, not just organic or biological ones. According to

Google Scholar Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. Released in beta in November 2004, the Google Scholar index includes p ...

, the paper has garnered 969 citations. Lippmaa often participated in activities of the

Popular Front of Estonia The Popular Front of Estonia ( et, Eestimaa Rahvarinne; RR), introduced to the public by the Estonian politician Edgar Savisaar under the short-lived name Popular Front for the Support of Perestroika, was a political organisation in Estonia in ...

. He was a minister during the governments of

Edgar Savisaar Edgar Savisaar (31 May 1950 – 29 December 2022) was an Estonian politician, one of the founding members of Popular Front of Estonia and the Centre Party. He served as the acting Prime Minister of Estonia, Minister of the Interior, Minister ...

and

Tiit Vähi Tiit Vähi (born 10 January 1947) is an Estonian politician who was Prime Minister of Estonia from 1995 to 1997. He was also acting Prime Minister for several months during 1992 under the transitional government. Life and career Born in Kaagjä ...

. During his political career, Lippmaa was a delegate to the Moscow Congress of People's Deputies 1989–1991, has participated in the activities of the Popular Front, been a member of the

Estonian Congress The Congress of Estonia (Estonian: ''Eesti Kongress'') was an innovative grassroots parliament established in Estonia in 1990–1992 as a part of the process of regaining of independence from the Soviet Union. It also challenged the power and aut ...

, the founding member of the Coalition Party. In 1990- 1991 Endel Lippmaa was Minister for the Eastern Affairs of the Republic of Estonia, in 1995- 1996 Euro-Minister of the

Republic of Estonia A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th ...

and in 1996-1999 member of the Riigikogu.

Personal life

Endel Lippmaa was born in

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after the Northern European country's political and financial capital, Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 91,407 (as of 2021). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast o ...

. His father was botanist

Teodor Lippmaa Teodor Lippmaa (17 November 1892 in Riga – 27 January 1943 in Tartu) was a noted Estonian botanist. He was the president of the Estonian Naturalists' Society in 1939–1942. There is a monument honoring him in Tartu where he lived for much o ...

and his maternal grandfather was prosaist and journalist Jakob Mändmets. He graduated from

Nõmme Gymnasium Nõmme (Estonian for ''"Heath"'') is one of the 8 administrative districts ( et, linnaosa) of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. It has a population of 39,422 () and covers an area of , population density is . The district is largely a middle-cl ...

in 1948 and from

Tallinn University of Technology Established in 1918, Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech; et, Tallinna Tehnikaülikool) is the only technical university in Estonia. TalTech, in the capital city of Tallinn, is a university for engineering, business, public administratio ...

(TUT) in 1953, where he majored in oil shale technology. Lippmaa was married to Helle Lippmaa and had two sons, Jaak Lippmaa and Mikk Lippmaa.The Telegraph. ''Endel Lippmaa, physicist - obituary'' 16 August 2015
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Awards

In 2000, Lippmaa was awarded the

Order of the National Coat of Arms The Order of the National Coat of Arms ( et, Riigivapi teenetemärk, french: Ordre du Blason National) was instituted by Konstantin Päts on 7 October 1936 to commemorate 24 February 1918, the day on which Estonian independence was declared. The ...

, II Class.

References

External links

Endel Lippmaa, physicist - obituary
The Telegraph, August 16, 2015. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lippmaa, Endel 1930 births 2015 deaths 20th-century Estonian physicists Estonian chemists Politicians from Tartu Members of the Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union Members of the Riigikogu, 1995–1999 Recipients of the Order of the National Coat of Arms, 2nd Class Tallinn University of Technology alumni Burials at Metsakalmistu 20th-century Estonian politicians 21st-century Estonian politicians Estonian physicists