Studied physics and philosophy in Munich and Freiburg, postdocs at the UW in Seattle and at Harvard, Fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin 1998, Director at the MPI for the Physics of Complex Systems 1999 and Professor of Theoretical Quantum Dynamics, TU Dresden 2000.

Research interests: Nonlinear processes in the interaction of matter with light: ultracold and ultrafast processes; semiclassical theory of quantum phenomena; "non-mainstream" questions: origin of time and causality in the framework of physics.

Involvement in science management (among others): Editor in Chief, Journal of Physics B, London (until 2006), Lead Editor Physical Review A, New York, Dean of the Max Planck Schools throughout Germany, member of the Science Council.