Born on 6 May 1954 in Peine; studies of physics, TU Brunswick (1977); doctorate, TU Brunswick (1980); habilitation in geophysics, University of Mainz (1985); Heisenberg Programme for chemistry, MPI (1986); Professor of Geophysics, University of Göttingen (1992-2003), Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize awarded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) (1994); Director and Scientific Member, Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (since 2002), formerly: Max Planck Institute for Aeronomy (until 30 June 2004).