Reinhard Hentschke got his PhD degree in 1987 at the University of Maine, Orono, Maine, USA. Since 1999 he has been Professor of theoretical physics (statistical mechanics of soft matter/chemical physics) at the Bergische Universität, Wuppertal, Germany. His research interests have frequently straddled the boundary between physics and chemistry. As a group leader at the Max-Planck Institute for Polymer Research he has concentrated on computer modelling of polymers.