Born in 1979 in Würzburg, Germany, Diploma in chemistry from the University of Heidelberg in 2005, Diploma thesis written in the group of Prof. L. Cederbaum, PhD (“summa cum laude“) in theoretical chemistry from the University of Düsseldorf with Prof. Timo Fleig and Prof. Christel M. Marian in 2009. Nov. 2009 – Oct. 2010 postdoctoral research stay at the University of Strasbourg (France) with Prof. Trond Saue, Nov. 2010 – Jan. 2013 postdoctoral research stay at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense (Denmark) with Prof. Hans Jørgen Aagaard Jensen.
From Feb. 2013 to March 2018 “Habilitand” in the group of Prof. Markus Reiher at ETH Zürich (Switzerland) with successful conclusion of the Habilitation in March 2018. From March 2018 to May 2020 private docent / independent researcher within the group of Prof. Markus Reiher at ETH Zürich (Switzerland). From June 2020 - April 2022 permanent Senior researcher in the Superheavy Elements Chemistry group (SHE Chemie) at the Heavy Ion Research Center (GSI) Darmstadt in Germany. Since May 2022, Quantum Chemistry Team Lead at Algorithmiq and since August 2022 Privatdozent at ETH Zürich.
Awards include a short-term Marie Curie PhD research fellowship from Jan. 2007 – March 2007 at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense with Prof. Hans Jørgen Aagaard Jensen and an individual postdoctoral grant (2-years fellowship) funded by the Danish research council for natural sciences in 2010. In January and July 2017 research stays as a “Professeur invité” funded by the CNRS/France at the Université Toulouse Paul Sabatier to work with Dr. Hélene Bolvin on magnetic properties of actinide complexes. Stefan Knecht is the 2020 recipient of the Nernst-Haber-Bodenstein Prize of the German Physical Chemistry Society (Bunsengesellschaft).