About Me

Me holding my son Miloš

My father and I

My grandfather

1969

2012

My grandfather and father

I grew up in a small village, called Zeelst, in the vicinity of Eindhoven, located in the south of the Netherlands.

After attending high-school I started my astronomy studies at Leiden University.

Following the completion of my Masters degree in 1992, I remained in Leiden for my graduate studies. I completed my PhD degree in 1997 with a dissertation on the Central Regions of Early-Type Galaxies.

During most of my studies in Leiden, for a period of almost ten years, I rented a small room at the upper floor of this marvelous 18th century house on `Noordeinde’, which during that period was known as Huize β-verval.

view of academy building, Leiden

After obtaining my doctorate from Leiden University I held two postdoctoral positions; one as a Hubble Fellow at the University of Washington in Seattle, and one as a research associate at the Max-Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Garching, Germany.

Seattle

Munich

My next position was at ETH (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) in Zurich, where I ran the theory group from 2003 to 2005, followed by the Max-Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) in Heidelberg, where I lead an Independent Research Group from 2005 to 2009.

In 2009 I once again decided to cross the Atlantic, starting a position as Associate Professor at the University of Utah in what is one of the most gorgeous

places of the world;

Salt Lake City, Utah.

Zurich

Heidelberg

Salt Lake City

The stay at the University of Utah was short, and in July of 2010 I started a position as Assistant Professor at Yale University where I have been ever since.