On Thursday 31 October 2024 a large number of students and staff gathered to say thank you and farewell to Juraj as he retired after 22 years. As NMR Manager, Juraj has played a major role in establishing the NMR facility’s widely recognised track record of providing excellent NMR support and training to students and staff, enabling research with industry, and sustainably managing a busy facility.Former School of Chemistry PhD students or PDRAs returning to visit after moving on to other roles often share how much they miss Edinburgh and the NMR service – a sentiment that speaks volumes about Juraj’s dedication and professionalism.Throughout his career Juraj has been at the forefront of NMR innovations, including hardware advances and implementation of new NMR experiments, to the huge benefit of our researchers. The Facility’s helium capture system designed by Juraj and installed in 2017, was a pioneering event for UK NMR labs. Evaporated helium gas is collected, compressed into cylinders, and returned to BOC for liquefaction. In 2023 Juraj initiated a He liquefaction project. When completed in 2025, it will enable full recycling of this valuable non-renewable natural resource, greatly increasing the sustainability of the Facility, as well as saving considerable amount of money. Juraj has also been an important contributor to and a valued colleague of the wider UK NMR community. He was renowned for his enthusiasm for complicated engineering systems, attention to detail, ability to deal with installations/repairs in vey cost effective ways. His time, enthusiasm and willingness to share his exceptional knowledge (without holding back on any mistakes along the way that we can all learn from) was much appreciated. Throughout our professional lives, I was very fortunate to share with you devotion and enthusiasm for NMR. It was my pleasure working with you Juraj. I wish you all the best for the years to come. Dušan Uhrín Head of NMR Facility The School would like to thank Juraj again for his major contributions and collegiality, and wishes him all the best for retirement. If you would like to learn more about our NMR facility, please visit https://www.snug.ac.uk/edin-chem-nmr or read about our recent improvements athttps://chem.ed.ac.uk/news-events/news/new-nmr-equipment-adds-x-nuclei-and-19f-capabilities Publication date 12 Nov, 2024
