[1] Volker Heine has been a very active figure in the international scientific community, shaping in particular the landscape of the field of atomistic computer simulations in Europe.

Psi-k's mission is to develop fundamental theory, algorithms, and computer codes in order to understand, predict, and design materials properties and functions.

He has been visiting professor at several universities around the world and External Scientific Member of the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart.

Here, his pioneering work on pseudopotentials[3][4] forms a basis of most presently undertaken electronic structure and total-energy calculations, in particular for semiconductors and so-called sp-bonded metals.

[6] Furthermore, his groundbreaking work on the complex band structure and pioneering ideas in the theory of surface states provides the basis of present-day description and understanding of electronic properties of bulk and interfaces.