Gerhard Pfaff was born in Meiningen, Germany, in 1953. He received his diploma in chemistry (1978) and Ph.D. (with A. Feltz) from the Friedrich-Schiller-University of Jena (1983). His postgraduate research was in the field of solid-state chemistry and ceramic materials at the University of Jena. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the C.N.R.S. Institute of Solid-State Chemistry of Bordeaux, France (with J. P. Bonnet), in 1987. In 1991, he joined Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, as a research manager in the R&D department of the Pigments Division. Since 1994, he has been the head of product development for effect pigments in this division. In 1997, he received the habilitation in the field of inorganic chemistry at the Technical University of Darmstadt (with R. Kniep), where he is now also a lecturer. His research interests include synthesis, structural investigation, and application behavior of effect pigments, materials with advanced optical and electrical properties, and perovskites.

Peter Reynders was born in Bad Gandersheim, Germany, in 1958. He received his diploma in organic chemistry from the University of Göttingen (1984) and his doctoral degree in physical chemistry at the Max Planck Institute of Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, Germany (1988). In the following years, he worked in the field of industrial nanochemistry at Lucent Bell Laboratories, NJ. He is currently Research Manager in the Pigments Division at Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. His research interests include the synthesis, sintering, and characterization of nanocrystalline oxides and surface modification and coloristics of industrial pigments.