Benjamin Matschke studied extremely fast: After eight semesters he finished his 'Diplom' in mathematics at TU Berlin. For his fast graduation Benjamin Matschke was awarded with the Erwin-Stephan-Preis by the TU Berlin. The Erwin-Stephan-Preis is granted twice a year for students who study very fast and graduate with best grades.

Straight from the beginning the 25-year-old BMS student studied intensively. At an average of up to 40 lecture hours per week he took twice as many classes than the average student. On weekends he also went to parties but the rest of the week he mainly focussed on mathematics. Because he was funded by the "Deutsche Studienstiftung" with a scholarship and was living cheaply in a student residence he didn’t need to find a job.

His motivation was and still is to become a great mathematician. Since the 5th grade he participated in competitions like the Mathematical Olympiad. In 2005, he won the "Bundeswettbewerb Mathematik". Benjamin considers his current status as a PhD student at the BMS a dream job – plenty of time for research. The area he is focused on is algebraic topology and discrete geometry. He loves going to conferences and to research at different places in the world. During his studies he was in Toronto, Hanoi, Belgrad, Barcelona and Seattle. He plans to spend the 4,000 Euros prize money on further stays abroad.

You will find the complete Tagesspiegel Article from 12 April 2010 in German here:
http://www.tagesspiegel.de/magazin/wissen/art304,3081946