He studied mathematics at the University of Bonn, finishing his PhD thesis in 1993 under the supervision of Stephan Luckhaus.

Otto specialises in materials science, including work on the theory of partial differential equations.

In 2006, he received the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, which is the highest honour awarded in German research.

In 2009, he was awarded a Gauss Lecture by the German Mathematical Society.

[3] In 2024, he received the Cantor medal by the German Mathematical Society.