Born 1946, in Grabs (Switzerland). Study of philosophy and biology in Tübingen and Berlin, M.A. Philosophy (1973), degree in biology (1979) and doctorate as Dr. rer. nat. Free Univ. Berlin (1982), habilitation in molecular biology Free Univ. Berlin (1987), university lecturer Lübeck Univ. (1990), Associate Professor Salzburg Univ. (1994), Scientific Member (since 1996) and Director (since 1997, since 2011 emeritus) at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science. "Honorarprofessor" (part-time prof.) TU Berlin for the history of science and technology (since 1998). Since 1998, member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, since 2002 member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, honorary doctorate of the ETH Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich in 2002, recipient of the Cogito Prize (2006).