Study of physics, Universities of Münster and Göttingen, diploma degree (1966), doctorate Univ. of Göttingen (1969), German Habilitation in physics Univ. of Cologne (1976), Associate Professor (1978) and Full Professor (1980) Darmstadt Univers. of Technology, Director and Scientific Member at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids (since 1996), Honorary Professor of Physics at the Technical University Dresden (since 1999).