**About the Editors**

#### **Gert Heinrich**

Gert Heinrich graduated at the University in Jena (G) in Quantum Physics in 1973. At the University of Technology (TH) Leuna-Merseburg, he finished his doctorate in 1978 in polymer network physics and his Habilitation in 1986 about the theory of polymer networks and topological constraints. In 1990, he received a position at the tire manufacturer Continental in Hanover (G) as a senior research scientist and the head of Materials Research. Heinrich continued his academic activities as lecturer at Universities of Hanover (G) and Halle/Wittenberg (G). In 2002, he was appointed as a full professor for "Polymer Materials and Rubber Technology" at the University of Technology Dresden and as director of the Institute of Polymer Materials at the Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden e.V. (IPF). Since 2017, he has been a Senior Professor. His work has been recognized by several grants and awards, e.g., the George Stafford Whitby Award for distinguished teaching and research from the Rubber Division of the American Chemical Society (ACS); the Colwyn Medal in UK for outstanding services to the rubber industry; the Carl Dietrich Harries Medal from the German Rubber Society; and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Tire Technology International Magazine.

#### **Michael Lang**

Michael Lang graduated at the University in Regensburg (G) in Physics in 2001 and finished his doctorate about the formation and structure of polymer networks at the same place in 2004. After a post-doc in the lab of Michael Rubinstein (UNC North Carolina), he joined the Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research in Dresden in 2007 where he became deputy head of the theory department in 2015.
