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As a neutrino physicist I work underground. Neutrinos are point-like elementary particles moving essentially at the speed of light. They interact very weakly with matter and every second billions of neutrinos pass through us. Matter does very little to shield us from these harmless particles and most of the time neutrinos pass unnoticed on their journey through space. My curiosity in these particles has taken me to some of the deepest locations in Japan and America. Deep underground and far away from disturbing cosmic radiation we detect and study neutrinos that are emitted in nuclear reactions inside the Sun, nuclear reactors, or the Earth. In our research we learn about the fusion reactions that power the Sun, the processes of nuclear decay, and most-importantly the particle nature of neutrinos.
 Born and raised in Germany I spent most of my academic life abroad. I became interested in particle physics and neutrino astrophysics during my undergraduate studies at Oxford University in England and have been fascinated with this research ever since. In 1995 I came to the United States as a graduate student at the University of Washington. After my PhD work on the solar neutrino problem at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory I moved to Berkeley. As a Chamberlain Fellow at LBNL I have worked on the study of reactor neutrinos at KamLAND in Japan. Most recently I have been involved in an effort to design a next-generation reactor neutrino oscillation experiment to fully understand the mixing between different types of neutrinos, a phenomenon that could ultimately help us understand the matter-antimatter difference in the Universe.
 Together with my wife Reina, I enjoy skiing and playing the violin. I love modern art and have a passion for modern architecture.
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