Rainer Feistel received his PhD in physics from the University of Rostock, Germany, in 1976. Until 1988, he taught physics at the universities of Berlin, Germany, and Asmara, Eritrea, and went on research visits to the universities of Moscow, Veracruz, Brussels and Stuttgart. Turning to oceanography in 1983, he participated in various scientific expeditions to the Atlantic and the Baltic Sea. Dr. Feistel is a Gustav-Hertz laureate of the Physical Society, and currently chairs the Subcommittee "Seawater" of the International Association for the Properties of Water and Steam. He has published about 200 scientific articles and books.
Werner Ebeling held a post as full professor in theoretical physics at Rostock University, Germany, from 1970 to 1979, and at the Humboldt University Berlin until 2001. He also was the editor of several scientific journals. Professor Ebeling was the founding speaker of the Research Center Complex Nonlinear Processes in Berlin, and taught as guest professor in physics at several Universities abroad, among others in Madrid, Krakow, Saratov and Moscow. He is a member of the Leibniz Society Berlin and of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Russia, as well as honorary professor of several Russian universities. His research interests include nonlinear irreversible processes, the quantum statistics of plasmas, the theory of self-organization and evolution and the history of physics.