Since moving to the Netherlands in 2004 I am working on the development and commissioning of the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) – a novel radio telescope under construction in the Netherlands, but also including international partners from other european countries. My main involvement is with the High-Energy Cosmic Rays Key Science Project, based at the Radboud University Nijmegen. Whereas the main goal of our scientific analysis is geared towards the understanding of the radio from extensive cosmic ray air-showers, the incoming data almost are saturated with all sorts of signals – be they of natural or human-made origin; one of the topics I have been working is the detection of radio signatures from electric discharges (lightnings) in thunderstorms.

My work mainly focuses on the development of software for the scientific analysis of the data taken with the LOFAR telescope. My particular interest of the imaging of the radio intensity distribution as emitted by cosmic ray air-shower – but also as originating from lightning discharges in thunderstorms. The novel capabilities of “digital radio-telescopes” – the usage of large numbers of cheap receptor elements combined with high-performance computing – allows to explore physical processes in unprecedented ways.

It is now already some years since I picked up my first SLR; as a regular visitor of the Rheinkultur festival I developed some interest in the photography of musicians and their audience. Finally moving to digital at the end of 2006 I have decided to get a bit more serious about photography – not only spending more time going out and using the camera, but also investing in good equipment to enable shooting under available light conditions.
This site mainly hosts some technical and background information – if you want to have a look at the pictures themselves, feel free to drop in on my Flickr pages.