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Ervin Kováts
by Susan J. Ainsworth
February 11, 2013
| A version of this story appeared in
Volume 91, Issue 6
Ervin Kováts, 84, a professor of technical chemistry at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Lausanne, died on June 7, 2012, of complications due to pneumonia.
Born in Budapest, Kováts earned a master’s degree in chemical engineering at the Technical University of Budapest in 1949. He then earned a Ph.D. in chemistry at ETH Zurich, working under Hans H. Günthard, in 1953.
Remaining at ETH Zurich, he conducted organic chemistry research in the lab of Nobel Laureate Leopold Ružička. While researching the composition of essential oils, Kováts outlined the concept behind the so-called Kováts retention index, a concept used in gas chromatography.
Kováts became a full professor of technical chemistry at ETH Lausanne in 1967, a position he held until his retirement in 1994. He later served as a research professor at the University of Veszprém, in Hungary.
He is credited with 26 patents and roughly 110 papers. He was a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Chromatography, which dedicated a special issue to Kováts in 1987 in honor of his 60th birthday.
Kováts received numerous awards, including the 1986 Martin Medal from the Chromatographic Society and the 2004 Halász Medal Award from the Hungarian Society for Separation Sciences.
He was a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and a member of ACS from 1981 until 2011. Kováts enjoyed music, theater, and the study of linguistics.
He is survived by his wife, Lucienne, and four children.
Obituary notices of no more than 300 words may be sent to Susan J. Ainsworth at s_ainsworth@acs.org and should include an educational and professional history.
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