Born 14.06.1950, emeritus full professor of physics at the Institute of Optics, Information and Photonics of the University Erlangen-Nuremberg. Since 2009 scientific member of the Max Planck Society. Founding director at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (until 2019). Member of the Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, German Physical Society, European Physical Society, German Society of Applied Optics. Fellow of OPTICA (the Optical Society), of Institute of Physics (London), and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Foreign member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. More than 400 publications in scientific journals and editor of 3 books. 2005 he obtained the Quantum Electronics and Optics Prize of the European Physical Society and 2018 the Herbert Walther Award of German Physical Society and of OPTICA.