Hans Joachim Schellnhuber founded the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) in 1992 and has been its Director ever since. He is a Professor for Theoretical Physics at Potsdam University and holds positions as Research Fellow at the Stockholm Resilience Centre and Senior Advisor at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) in Potsdam. In 2017, he received the Blue Planet Prize from the Japanese Asahi Glass Foundation, which is  considered the most important award for environmental sciences worldwide, as well as the Hans-Carl-von-Carlowitz-Sustainability Award. Schellnhuber has been a long-standing member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. He is a member of numerous national and international panels addressing scientific strategies and sustainability issues. Schellnhuber has authored, co-authored or edited almost 350 articles and more than  60 books in the fields of condensed matter physics, complex systems dynamics, climate change research, Earth System analysis, and sustainability science.