 In 2000, he obtained the degree of a lecturer and the venia legendi at the University of Freiburg with his post-doctoral thesis on Atomic Systems in Intense Laser Fields.After working as a lecturer at the universities of Freiburg and Düsseldorf, he was appointed Director at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg in 2004, whereof he was the Managing Director 2006 to 2008.In 2005, he was appointed honorary professor at Heidelberg University.