Thomas T. Fuhrmann studied mathematical physics at the universities of Heidelberg (Germany) and Cambridge (UK). He additionally studied computer science at the German distance university at Hagen. In Cambridge he specialized in general relativity, cosmology, and black holes. His diploma thesis at Heidelberg is on new methods in quantum field theory. During his regular studies, Thomas also pursued his interest in the history and philosophy of physics, and, as a teacher's assistant, followed his passion for teaching. Owing to his outstanding overall performance his studies were supported by the German National Scholarship Foundation.

Having obtained his diploma with distinction, Thomas Fuhrmann shifted his interest to more practical problems: during an internship with the Boston Consulting Group at Munich, Germany, he worked on models simulating the influence of e-commerce on retail banking. And during a research stay at the Beckman Institut at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, he developed Internet appliances for physics education. As consultant to the Springer-Verlag publishing house and Systematika GmbH at Heidelberg, Thomas contributed his e-commerce competency to several Internet and multimedia projects. For his PhD, Thomas combined both, his analytical capabilities and his technical competence, and investigated object-oriented methods for computer simulations that are suited for online education.

Since 1998 Thomas Fuhrmann works with the chair of computer networks and multimedia technology at the University of Mannheim. There, he is specially interested in communication protocols that facilitate the ubiquitous access to the Internet: satellites and mobile communications. Since as coordinator for the technical infrastructure of the forming virtual university of the Upper Rhine region little time remains for own teaching, he follows his passion for teaching during summer schools for especially gifted students.

• 1999: Research studies at INRIA at Sophia-Antipolis, France
• 1999: PhD thesis on object-oriented computer simulations in education
• 1998: Research assistant for computer networks and multimedia technologies at the University of Mannheim, Germany
• 1997/98: PhD studies in computational physics at the University of Heidelberg, Germany
• 1997/98: Internet consultant to the Springer-Verlag Publishing House and Systematika GmbH at Heidelberg, Germany
• 1996: Internship with The Boston Consulting Group at Munich, Germany
• 1996: Research studies at the Beckman Institut at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois/US
• 1995/96: Diploma thesis on new methods in quantum field theory at the University of Heidelberg, Germany
• 1994/95: Studies in mathematical physics at the University of Cambridge, UK
• 1992-96: Scholarship of the German National Scholarship Foundation
• 1991-94: Studies in physics at the University of Heidelberg, Germany
• 1990-96: Studies in computer science at the University of Hagen, Germany