Volker Bothmer

Volker Bothmer (M'96) received the diploma in physics and completed the thesis under the fellowship of the Max-Planck-Society, the Max-Planck-Institut für Aeronomie (MPAe), from the University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany, in 1989 and 1993, respectively. Since then, he has been actively involved in space science and research in solar and heliospheric physics within the Helios, Ulysses, SOHO as well as planning of future national and international space projects such as STEREO, Solar Orbiter or Solar Probe. After his research in the Ulysses project at ESAs European Space Research and Technology Center (ESTEC), the Netherlands, he continued research in the ESA/NASA mission SOHO, at the Department of Extraterrestrial Physics, University Kiel, Kiel, Germany. In 1997, he was appointed to the NASA Science and Technology Definition Team for the STEREO (Solar Terrestrial relations Observatory) mission and is currently leading the project Stereo/Corona at the German Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung (MPS, formerly MPAe), Germany; a science and hardware contribution to STEREO's optical imaging package SECCHI (Sun Earth Coronal and Heliospheric Investigation). The STEREO satellites will be launched in 2006. In 2004, he was appointed to the NASA Solar Probe Science and Technology Definition Team, and he also became Lecturer at the University of Göttingen. Mr. Bothmer is Solar Physics Secretary of the European Geophysical Union, and a member of the European Geosciences Union, the American Geophysical Union, and International Astromical Union. He is the Co-Chair of the COSPAR subcommission D2/E2 (the transition from the sun to the heliosphere).