Rolf Brendel studied in Freiburg and Heidelberg, Germany, and at the University of Sussex, Brighton, U.K. He received the Physics Diploma degree in 1987 on nuclear fusion research, as well as the Mathematics degree in 1988. In 1992, he received the Ph.D. degree in infrared spectroscopy from the University of Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany. He then joined the Max-Planck-Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart to study the physics of thin-film silicon solar cells and the thermodynamics of photovoltaic power conversion. In 1997 he became head of the Division for Thermosensorics and Photovoltaics at the Bavarian Center for Applied Energy Research, where he worked on imaging diagnostics of solar cells. In 2004 he joined the Institute of Solid State Physics of the Leibniz University of Hannover as a full professor and became director of the Institute for Solar Energy Research in Hamelin (ISFH).