Thomas W. Baumgarte is a Professor of Physics at Bowdoin College, and an Adjunct Professor of Physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He received his Diploma (1993) and Doctorate (1995) from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat, Munchen, and held postdoctoral positions at Cornell University and the University of Illinois before joining the faculty at Bowdoin College. He is a recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship. He has written over 65 research articles on a variety of topics in general relativity and relativistic astrophysics, including black holes and neutron stars, gravitational collapse, and more formal mathematical issues.