Born 1956 in Münster. Study of mathematics, physics, economics and philosophy at Bonn Univ. (1975-1980), PhD in Mathematics (1980), Professor Ruhr Univ. Bochum (1984-1996), Director and Scientific Member at the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences (since 1996), Honorary Professor at Leipzig Univ. (1998), External Member Santa Fe Institute for the Sciences of Complexity, New Mexico, USA. Member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Academy of Sciences and Literature at Mainz, Saxonian Academy of Sciences. Gottfried-Wilhelm-Leibniz Award of the DFG (1993), ERC Advanced Grant (2010).