Professor Herlach is Leader of the group 'Undercooling of materials' at the Institute of Space Simulation of the German Aerospace Research Center in Cologne and he is Professor of Physics at the Ruhr-University in Bochum, Germany. He is a member of the 'Advisory Board of Directors' of the German Physics Society (DPG) and Coordinator of DFG Priority Program SPP1120 ('Phase Transformations in Multicomponent Melts'). He authored five books, four patents and over 200 publications in reviewed journals.