Born 1969 in Klagenfurt, Austria. Diploma studies in technical chemistry and French (1988-1993). Doctoral degree in Chemistry at the Technical University Graz, Austria (1995). Postdoctoral Fellow with Mario Molina at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA, USA (1996-1997). Research scientist with Paul Crutzen in the Atmospheric Chemistry Department of the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (1997-1998). Research group leader at the Institute of Hydrochemistry of the Technical University Munich (1995-2005). Habilitation and venia legendi in Chemistry at the Technical University Munich (2006). Habilitation in Geochemistry at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (2007). Research group leader in the Biogeochemistry Department of the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (2005-2012). Director of the Multiphase Chemistry Department and Scientific Member at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (since 2012). Initiator and chief editor of the interactive open access journal "Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics" (ACP, since 2001) with public peer review and discussion, chairman of the publications committee and council member of the European Geosciences Union (EGU, 2003-2013).