Prof. Dr. Peter Toschek studied physics at the University of Göttingen and the University of Bonn, where he earned his doctorate in 1961 under Wolfgang Paul with a dissertation on the scattering of gallium atoms in defined Zeeman states by argon and helium.
In 1963, as a research assistant at the Institute for Applied Physics at Heidelberg University, he founded Germany’s first research group on laser spectroscopy. Theodor Hänsch, who would later win the Nobel Prize, soon joined this research group.
In 1968, he completed his habilitation, and in 1972 he was appointed professor at Heidelberg University.
In 1981, he was appointed C4 professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Hamburg, where he founded the Institute for Laser Physics with Günter Huber in 1989–1991 and remained active until his retirement in 1998.

Dr. Toschek’s research focused on atomic physics, quantum optics, and laser physics. He is considered one of the pioneers of laser spectroscopy and is best known for being the first to successfully trap individual isolated atoms (ions) in an experimentally controlled environment.

At the age of 87 years Prof. Dr. Peter E. Toschek passed away in Hamburg on 25 June 2020.