Mathias Winkel
Head Of AI & Quantum Lab at Merck Group
Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany
Summary
👤
Senior🎓
Top SchoolMathias Winkel is a seasoned technology and research leader with 17 years of experience combining physics-driven R&D and software engineering to deliver AI-enabled solutions for drug discovery and materials science. Holding a PhD in theoretical physics and an MBA, he has progressed from parallel HPC and simulation research to leading AI, quantum and software teams at Merck, where he now heads software for AI in Drug Discovery. He blends deep algorithmic expertise—evident from contributions to scientific toolchains and a vtk-js export script—with product-focused leadership that prototypes practical digital and optimization workflows. Known for a solution-oriented, curiosity-driven approach, he bridges high-performance simulation, neuroscience-inspired AI and quantum methods to de-risk innovation early. Based in Darmstadt, he advises internal partners and builds cross-disciplinary teams that translate cutting-edge research into usable, scalable software.
17 years of coding experience
14 years of employment as a software developer
PhD (Dr. rer. nat.), Physics, magna cum laude, PhD (Dr. rer. nat.), Physics, magna cum laude at RWTH Aachen UniversityMaster of Business Administration - MBA, General Management (Technische Betriebswirtschaft), very good (1.4) with distinction as best in class, Master of Business Administration - MBA, General Management (Technische Betriebswirtschaft), very good (1.4) with distinction as best in class at Hochschule Bochum - Bochum University of Applied SciencesDiploma (Dipl.-Phys.), Physics, very good (1.1), Diploma (Dipl.-Phys.), Physics, very good (1.1) at Universität Rostock
English, German, Russian
Stackoverflow
577reputation
25kreached
24answers
1question
Github Skills (15)
paraview10
vtk-js10
python10
data-structure9
data-structures9
file-processing8
file-handling8
fileio8
file-access8
utilities7
ocr6
opencv6
directed-acyclic-graph6
delphi6
conditional-compilation6
Programming languages (7)
Github contributions (5)
Kitware/vtk-js
Jul 2022 - Jul 2022
Visualization Toolkit for the Web
Role in this project:
Backend Developer
Backend DeveloperContributions:6 commits, 1 PR, 5 comments in 1 day
Contributions summary:Mathias primarily contributed to the `export-scene-macro.py` script, focusing on extending its capabilities for the `vtk-js` visualization toolkit. Their work involved supporting the export of various data types like `vtkStringArray`, ensuring correct handling of non-numeric arrays for coloring, and exporting all numeric arrays. They also improved the script's maintainability through code formatting and addressing compatibility with newer versions of ParaView.
reactjavascriptdata-visualizationscientific-visualizationgraphics
dasmy/gpt-code-ui
Jul 2023 - Mar 2024
An open source implementation of OpenAI's ChatGPT Code interpreter
Contributions:35 PRs, 60 pushes, 40 branches in 8 months
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