Born on May 2, 1945 in Straubing, Bavaria. Diploma in chemistry (1970) and mineralogy (1971) at Braunschweig Technical Univ., doctorate Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research Stuttgart, and Braunschweig Technical Univ. (1973), postdoc (1978) and Professor (1979) Institute of Inorganic Structural Chemistry Düsseldorf Univ., Full Professor for Inorganic Chemistry at Eduard Zintl Institute Darmstadt Technical Univ. (1987), Director and Scientific Member at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids (since 1998). Emeritus since 2012.