about me

The story of my life

The short version goes like this:

I grew up in a sleepy small town called Kulmbach in Bavaria, Germany, where my parents had a nice restaurant in the castle overlooking the town. I have two younger sisters, one a medical doctor, the other one an accomplished Karateka (vice world champion) with a PhD in Chemistry. I received my degree in Computer Science from Technische Universität Munich, where I also did my PhD. My wife and I now live in Sydney, Australia, where I work on software verification.

For the long version or a proper CV, contact me personally.

What I find interesting

My professional interest is in what people call Formal Methods, more specifically in interactive theorem proving, software verification, and semantics of programming languages. Generally, I want software systems to be dependable, and I think that formal specification and proof can make a significant contribution towards that goal. My background is in compiler construction (which inspired me to write JFlex), user interfaces (on which I did my degree), software engineering (on which I spent many of my undergrad years), and, of course, logic, theorem-proving and semantics (on which I did my PhD). See my projects and publications for a sample of what I have worked on. I am known for the formal verification of the seL4 microkernel and my work in interactive theorem proving.

When I am not proving theorems, teaching students, or writing open source software, I might be spotted reading books (ranging from SF to linguistics and history), hiking in the Outback, going to the cinema or enjoying Sydney's beautiful beaches. I have long been fascinated by martial arts, having done Judo as a kid, later Karate, Taiji Quan, and Russian Systema.

Reporter: What do you think of western civilization?
Mahatma Gandhi: I think it would be a good idea.