Hans Joachim Schellnhuber was born in 1950 in Ortenburg, Germany. He obtained his Ph.D. in theoretical physics at the University of Regensburg in 1980. After several research periods abroad he became professor at the Interdisciplinary Centre for Marine and Environmental Sciences at the University of Oldenburg and the centre’s managing director in 1992. One year later he became the founding director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and started teaching theoretical physics at the University of Potsdam. From 2001 to 2005 he was engaged as Research Director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and Professor at the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, UK. Since 2005 he is visiting professor in physics at Oxford University. Schellnhuber is member of several national and international panels for scientific strategies and policy advice on environment and development matters. In 2007 he became chief government advisor on climate and related issues for the German G8-EU twin presidency and member of the High Level Advisory Group of EU President Barroso. As a researcher his main interests lie in the fields of condensed matter physics, climate change research, earth system analysis, and sustainability science.