Ulrich went to school in Kassel (Germany) where he was born 1952. He studied chemistry (augmented by additional courses in mathematics, theoretical physics and computer science) at the University of Göttingen, finishing in 1978 with a diploma thesis on physical organic photochemistry, carried out at the Max Planck Institut für Biophysikalische Chemie in Göttingen (spectroscopy department, director A. Weller, thesis supervisor K. H. Grellmann). Subsequently he pursued his research interests further at the same location and completed a Ph.D. thesis in 1981. Ulrich left the Max Planck Institut for a postdoctoral stay at the IBM San Jose (California) Research Laboratory (chemical dynamics group) where he collaborated in the development of novel recording media for optical holographic storage. In spring 1983 he returned to the Max Planck Institut and continued research on tunnel effects in photoinduced hydrogen transfer reactions before he left Göttingen in autumn 1983 in order to join the research group of M. Quack at the Laboratorium für Physikalische Chemie at ETH Zürich, Switzerland. There he set up advanced spectroscopic experiments, combining high-resolution interferometric Fourier transform (as well as diode laser) infrared absorption spectroscopy with supersonic free jet expansions in order to obtain rotationally resolved spectra of cold isolated molecules. He also took care of the set-up, management, operation and programming of the group's computer systems for laboratory data acquisition and instrument control as well as for numerical simulations and for a variety of other applications. Early 1998 Ulrich got attracted by the opportunity to collaborate with M. Suhm in setting up a new research group at Göttingen university physical chemistry institute as well as to take care of the advanced practical course in physical chemistry.
Ulrich is also interested in the history of science; in 1999 he launched a website dedicated to the memory of Walther Nernst (www.nernst.de), and since May 2006 he is secretary of the Göttingen Museum of Chemistry and of its promoting society.
Acknowledgment: R. Hilsch, H. Gründig, H. Goenner (physics); O. Glemser, E. Schwarzmann, A. Meller (inorganic chemistry); G. Spiteller, U. Schöllkopf, A. de Meijere (organic chemistry); J. Nölting, H. G. Wagner, K. Hoyermann, J. Troe, W. Bingel (physical chemistry); W. Lüttke, H. Strehlow, A. Weller, M. Stockburger, K. Schulten (spectroscopy)
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Revised 2013-08-21