In memory of Ernst Kunibert Zinner (1937–2015)

The death of Ernst Kunibert Zinner brings great sadness to the community of cosmochemists and astrophysicists. He pioneered the isotopic and chemical study of grains formed in ejecta from very diverse stars that exploded before the Solar System formed. The identification of the chemical compounds, which he found in grains of circumstellar condensates, and their isotopic compositions has permitted great advances in our understanding of stellar nucleosynthesis. Ernst Zinner was Research Professor at Washington University, where he was supported by research grants from NASA and some from the NSF