Ulrich Schubert is Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the Institute of Materials Chemistry, Vienna University of Technology. He was born in Regensburg, Germany, and received his diploma degree in Chemistry and his PhD degree from the Technical University of Munich. After a postdoctoral stay at Stanford University and his Habilitation in Munich he held a Professorship of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Würzburg from 1982-1994 and then moved to Vienna as a full Professor. From 1989 to 1994 he also held different positions at the Fraunhofer Institute of Silicate Research in Würzburg. He is member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the German Academy Leopoldina, and served as President of the Austrian Chemical Society from 2001 to 2004.