He received his doctorate in theoretical physics from the University of Bayreuth in 1989.
In 1991, during his postdoctoral research at the University of California at Santa Barbara, he received a faculty position in experimental physics at Cornell University.
From 1992 until 2005, during his tenure at Cornell he was a visiting professor at the University of California, San Diego (1999-2000).
In 2003 he became a Scientific Member of the Max Planck Society and an Adjunct Director (2003-2005)/ Director (since 2005) at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization.
He continues to have close ties to Cornell University, where he is Adjunct Professor of Physics and of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (since 2005).