Born 1968 in Stuttgart. Study of physics, mathematics and philosophy in Tübingen and London, doctorate computer science Technical University Berlin (1997), researcher at German National Research Center for Computer Science, industrial research at AT&T Bell Laboratories, Microsoft Research, and Biowulf Technologies, Director and Scientific Member at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics (2001-2011), since 2011 at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Honorary Professor TU Berlin (since 2002).