Born 1958, in Waiblingen. Study of mathematics and physics in Tübingen (1978-1983) and Berkeley (1984- 1985), PhD mathematics Tübingen (1987), German Habilitation computer science Tübingen (1989), Assistant Professor Waterloo/Canada Univ. (1989-1992), Full Professor Erlangen Univ. (1992-1999), Director and Scientific Member at the Max Planck Institute for Computer Science (since 1999).