Born 1963 in Berlin. Study of physics in Berlin (1982-1987), PhD at Humboldt University Berlin (1989), postdoc at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society (until 1993), guest scientist at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, USA (until 1996), head of an Independent Junior Research Group at the Fritz Haber Institute of the MPS (until 2003), German Habilitation in theoretical physics at TU Berlin (2001), Full Professor at the University of Paderborn (since 2003), Director and Scientific Member at the Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung GmbH (since 2004). Honorary professor at the Ruhr University Bochum (2007), founder member of the Interdisciplinary Center of Advanced Materials Simulations (ICAMS) at the Ruhr University Bochum and director of the advanced study group “Modelling” (since 2008), member of the Academy of Sciences and Art of North Rhine-Westphalia (2010).