Born 1955 in Neunkirchen/Saar. MSc chemistry (1979), PhD physical chemistry, Saarland Univ. (1982), Habilitation physical chemistry Tübingen Univ. (1988), research at MPI for Solid State Research (1982-1988) and at MPI for Metals Research (C3) (1988-1991), Visiting Professor and external faculty member MIT (1989-1996), Director and Scientific Member at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research (since 1991), Honorary Professor Univ. Stuttgart (1992), Visiting Professor at TU Graz (1999).