Andreas Hirsch was born in Esslingen, Germany, in 1960. He studied chemistry in Tübingen, Germany, where he obtained his PhD in 1990 under Michael Hanack. During the course of his doctoral research, his interest in the material-science aspects of organic chemistry arose. As a consequence, he subsequently moved to the Institute of Polymers and Organic Solids in Santa Barbara, where he did postdoctoral research with Fred Wudl. Since 1991 he has been working on his qualification as university lecturer at the Institute of Organic Chemistry in Tübinge. His current fields of interest are the fullerenes, new alkynes and aromatics, including the investigation of their synthetic potential, biological activity, and properties as matrials.