Born 1941, in Heidelberg. Study of physics Heidelberg Univ. (1963-1970), Dr. rer. nat. (summa cum laude) (1969), postdoc (1970-1972), Associate Professor (1972-1975), Full Professor (1975-1986) Stanford Univ. Stanford California/USA, Professor Ludwig-Maximilians-Univ. Munich (since 1986), Director emeritus and Scientific Member at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics.