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• Curriculum vitae (that's what Americans like to call a resumé) in English.
• Curriculum vitae in Danish.
• Publication list.

The less formal version

Consider this work in progress. I grew up in a zoo (monkeys, parrots, elephants, the lot), yes, outside the cage - thank you, I have heard that one before! More than anything else, that formed my ability to interact with people, convey technical information in an understandable way, be alert and to do "a million" things simultaneously (e.g., sell pop corn, answer phone calls in three languages, and catch an escaped kangaroo - pretty much all at the same time). The path set in my exciting, exhausting and wonderfully chaotic formative years still guide my life; they spurred my quest for new challenges and nourished my appreciation for Nature and interest in communication.

Education? Somehow I must have learned something, though my memories of grammar school leave a distinctly unfavourable impression of said institution. My first 3 1/2 years at school (the pre-zoo years) were very suburban - in the least appealing connotation of that word - and I only recall school as a noisy nuisance, much of the noise probably originating from yours truly! The next five years (the zoo years) at another school appeared like a kind of day care institution; even at the age of ten, with whichever limited insight I had in these matters, I felt under-stimulated and much to the dismay of my parents and teachers openly said so. I got excellent marks, but never felt intellectually challenged. I rarely faced problems requiring all of my efforts. No, I was not particularly bright - just went to a miserable school. I was spoiled and bored and should be grateful for every eloped kangaroo!
Fortunately I was mentally prepared for the shock of high school (the post-zoo years) - much homework and every day challenged me far beyond my capacity. My gratitude definitely goes to Aarhus Katedralskole, that not only slashed my marks to something rather mundane (I did work my way up again, but it took three years), but also ensured that I learned every day. Thus well equipped, I entered university, University of Aarhus, which in those days (1980'ies) was a large, free buffet: They offered many courses, you could have about as many as you wanted, and even second helpings were allowed! I always tried something "new" - whatever I had not done before - during my studies, as well as in life in general. Particularly during my years at university this led to many interesting but seemingly unrelated activities - apart from biology, I took courses the physics, chemistry, mathematics, geology and computer science.
While a student at the University of Aarhus, I taught graduate and undergraduate courses and also took private students. I mostly taught genetics, population biology and evolutionary biology - technical topics, where you need pay as much attention to "the message" as to the formula; it is easy to loose perspective of the real question, if you merely enter values into a formula. Most of my private students were high school and engineering students, needing help with mathematics and physics. There was frequently a social reason for their problems - unsupporting parents telling them "nobody in our family ever knew physics, so no wonder you don't understand it" are hardly inspirational. When you work with science on a daily basis, it is sobering to go back and be forced to explain the seemingly simple relationships between theory and praxis, observation and interpretation, and testing and refuting hypotheses.

It is always difficult to assess the impact of individual events on your life and life style. Some people "see the light" while admiring Michelangelo's David, others are moved by hardship or the passing of a loved-one; the event is often romanticised in retrospect. I am not like that, obviously! 1988 held a defining moment of my life; given its impact on my life, it was remarkably drab, and I regret not taking a note [not quite sure, if it was really 1988], put a plaque on the wall, just something! Sitting at my desk on campus one evening, I was bored - just sat there, did nothing, and felt bored.
It suddenly struck me, this is not reasonable! This is an utter waste! Basically, I had no obligations, got three meals a day, lived in decent conditions, there were no requirements to graduate (it was those days!), I could spend my time on anything I wanted to, study whatever I liked at no cost (those days!), had lots of friends, ... Being bored was so much not an option! If I was bored, nobody could have an interesting life. I got quite upset with myself and my 'squandering' my life and decided to change my lifestyle - I did not want to be bored ever again. This took quite some adjustment of life style - it is called 'prioritizing - meaning I quit memberships of clubs and associations, unless I was deeply involved in the activities, stopped subscription to journals, I just flicked through, TV was definitely out, and I gave up on about everything, that did not mean a lot to me. It admittedly took a while - say about six months - but I have kept it up ever since. I am either there, all the way, and enjoying it, or I am not there at all. Life has not been uncomplicated, far from, I still get flat tires, soaked in the rain, and all that - but it has not been boring, not a single day!

Since 1988 I have made special exhibits with geological themes at mineral shows in Denmark and Germany, been author for popular science journals on chemistry, physics and biology, and given lectures to all sorts of people (school children, students, fossil collectors, etc.). Information of the general public is the best weapon against budget cuts in science and the occasional hostility against scientists.

Professionally I have tried a number of things since selling pop corn at the zoo. I have been an assistant curator at the Museum of Natural History in Aarhus (while still at high school), I have been a shop steward, and been doing traffic surveys for CowiConsult and the Ministry of Transport. Teaching suddenly brought me a major challenge: I was hired with immediate notice to teach statistics (of which I only had a marginal knowledge!) to 14 Indonesian and Thai students coming to Aarhus. I had six days to plan the course, go to London to buy books and brush up my own knowledge. Later I worked for Danida (Danish organization for developmental aid) one year in Thailand, and then I spent a couple of years traveling in Asia and elsewhere, writing for journals and working on my Ph.D. Recently I have been a writer at "Den Store Danske Encyclopædi" (the new Danish national encyclopedia).

I've spent about three and a half year working for my Ph.D. at the University of California (Berkeley) and University of Aarhus in Denmark - something about the evolution of molluscs, biomineralization, and materials sciences. To a European, Berkeley is a weird place; off course as American as anything can be (the Berkeleyans hate me for saying so!), but also with many peculiarities. Purple hair and a ring in your nose is not at all unusual; fortunately neither are good book stores, coffee shops and excellent restaurants. From a researcher's point of view, the University is superb with every "toy" you could ever want - the "Jewel of the Crown" is obviously a rich and efficient library with a wealth of obscure publications.

The future? Who knows, but hopefully trek the Karakorom Highway, visit Angkor Wat in Cambodia, open an ice cream shop, collect minerals in Rwanda, and find a way to control colour deposition in pearls.