I'm a physicist and staff member of the Heliophysics Group at the Chair of Theoretical Physics IV, which belongs to the University of Bochum, Germany. My main field of work is numerical and analytical magnetohydrodynamics, particularly in the field of space phyics and galactic astronomy. Among other things, I am particularly interested in

• the large-scale structure of the heliosphere and its interaction with the interstellar medium,
• the interaction of large-scale travelling disturbances (coronal mass ejections) in the solar wind,
• analytical models for magnetized fluid flow around solid objects,
• the propagation of charged particles ("cosmic rays") in (inter)stellar magnetic fields, and
• numerical methods, computer graphics, and visualization of various physical systems and problems in general.

• I studied physics at the Ruhr-University of Bochum ('RUB' for short) and graduated in 2000.
• At the Institute for Theoretical Physics IV at RUB, I wrote a Diploma thesis titled Magnetische Kopplung zwischen Chromosphäre und Konvektionszone der Sonne ("Magnetic coupling of the chromosphere to the Sun's convection zone") under the supervision of Dr. Gunnar Hornig. (A PDF copy is available at my publications page.)
• My PhD thesis MHD-Modellierung der Dynamik der Solaren Korona ("MHD Modeling of Solar Coronal Dynamics") was also written there under supervision of PD Dr. Horst Fichtner. For a copy (both German and English) again go to Publications.
• For my PhD period, I was able to obtain a scholarship of the Wernher von Braun-Stiftung zur Förderung der Weltraumwissenschaften, and another one from Allgemeines Promotionskolleg at RUB.
• I spent 2.5 years working as a post-doc within the Planetary Plasmas Group at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Katlenburg-Lindau (now relocated to Göttingen), initially in the framework of DFG Priority Programme 1115 "Mars and the Terrestrial Planets".
• Afterwards, I worked for 1.5 years as a post-doctoral research fellow at the Auroral Observatory, which hosts the Insitute for Physics and Technology at the University of Tromsø, Norway. I was employed within the research project "Ion cyclotron heating in laboratory and space plasmas with flows", headed by Prof. Åshild Fredriksen.

• Since about 1990, I have been an active SCUBA diver at STC Volmarstein, my local diving club.
• I'm an avid movie fan, with emphasis on (but not limited to) the SciFi/Horror/Thriller genre section. I mostly enjoy well-crafted movies that manage to convey an interesting idea, and challenge the viewer's imagination. For this reason, I'm a regular visitor to the annual Fantasy Film Festival.
• Ever since I came in contact with computers (starting with Commodore's now ancient VIC-20, then C-128, leading up to the glorious Amiga until its tragic fate, now abandoned for a PC), I have been very interested in computer graphics and visualisation. Lately, I have been toying around with Blender and Maxon's Cinema-4D, and I like it quite a lot.
• Using the idle CPU time on the local TP4 computer network, I have contributed modestly to the Seti@Home project. For details see here. (Not really up to date, I'm afraid.)