German physicist. Ph.D. physics, Hamburg University (1958). Professional experience includes: Graduate Research Center of the Southwest in Dallas (1964-1965); from associate professor to full professor, University of Texas at Austin (1965-1971); director of the gravitational theory department, Max Planck Institute for Physics and Astrophysics (later the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics) in Munich (1971-1995); adjunct professor, Ludwig Maximilian University (1971-); founding director, leader of department for the foundations and mathematics of general relativity, founding director emeritus, Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Potsdam (1995-2008).