Born February 18, 1961, I lived in Germany, in or close to Wiesbaden, until I was twelve years old.
We then moved to Rome/Italy, where I went to the German high-school.
1980 I moved to Zürich/Switzerland, where I studied physics at the ETH-Zürich. After finishing my studies in 1985 I stayed another three years at the ETH-Zürich for my PhD in theoretical condensed-matter physics with Prof. T.M. Rice.
1988-1990 I stayed at the Indiana University, Bloomington, with Steve Girvin and Allan MacDonald for a post-doctoral research period, initially as a Chester-Davies fellow.
In 1990 I moved to the University of Dortmund/Germany, being 29 years old, after having lived 17 years outside Germany. In the same year I married Roser Valenti. We are still married, we have three children, Kilian, Nathan and Agnes.
In 1999 I accepted an offer from the University of the Saarland in Saarbrücken/Germany for a chair in theoretical Physics.
In 2005 I accepted an offer from the University of Frankfurt in Frankfurt a.M./Germany for a chair in theoretical Physics.