Pierre Flener's Autobiography and Personal Details
Autobiography
I am from Luxembourg, that tiny country in the heart of Europe. I will not bore you with a patriotic information kit trying to convince you that my country is the bestest, beautifulest one in the world, its history the most glorious one, its culture unsurpassed, and its people the kindest, as you all know these facts anyway! Therefore, I once compiled a Travel Guide to Luxembourg (possibly the oldest such on-line guide?), with all objective (and not so objective) information I could find.
After growing up and attending primary school in the Gasperich suburb of Luxembourg City (Luxembourg), I went to the Athénée de Luxembourg for my secondary education, and earned my baccalaureate in mathematics, physics, and chemistry in 1983. Then I left for Belgium, for my higher education, because there was no university in my country yet.
I obtained my PhD in Computer Science from the Department of Computing Science and Engineering of the Université catholique de Louvain, in Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium), in 1993. Towards this, I also spent considerable research time at the Computer Science Department of the University of Namur (Belgium), where I obtained in 1988 my BSc and MSc in Computer Science, and as a visiting PhD student in 1990 at the Department of Computer Science of Duke University, in Durham (North Carolina, USA).
I first worked as an Assistant Professor in the Computer Engineering Department of Bilkent University, in Ankara (Turkey), until June 1998. Then I was a Senior Lecturer at the Computer Science Division of the now defunct Department of Information Science of Uppsala University (Sweden), until August 2002, and was awarded the title of Associate Professor (Docent) in March 1999.
I am now a Professor of Computing Science in the Department of Information Technology at Uppsala University (Sweden), since September 2001, and was a Senior Lecturer, Associate Professor (Docent) there until my promotion to professor in June 2008. During the academic year 2006/2007, I was on sabbatical as a Visiting Faculty Member and ERASMUS Exchange Teacher in the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences of Sabanci University, in Istanbul (Turkey).
Miscellaneous
Recreational bike races: I have raced the Vätternrunda (300 km in one day) in 2009, 2010, and 2011 (my personal best time is 9:41:56, including rests) and participate yearly in about five races over at least 120 km.
What's in a name? Read what I know of the name "Flener".
The determination of my birthday and zodiac sign is left as an exercise to the reader!
Jules A. Hoffmann and Henri Tudor are the most famous scientists / inventors from Luxembourg (although nobody knows that).
My Hobbies
- independent travelling
- active sports (cycling, cross-country skiing, volleyball, trekking, table tennis)
- reading (preferably travel and historic fiction)
- history & archeology (mostly of the Near / Middle East)
- movies (without violence only, especially by Monty Python)
- music (a little bit of everything, especially Near / Middle Eastern)
- spectator sports (same as active sports + football / soccer, basketball, tennis)
My Favourite Sportsmen and Teams
I have sworn unfailing allegiance to the following sport teams and individuals (unless they turn out to be doped) (in no particular order):- Laurent Didier, Jempy Drucker, Ben Gastauer, Bob Jungels, Andy Schleck (retired), Fränk Schleck (retired), and Kim Kirchen (retired), professional cyclists from Luxembourg
- the Luxembourg National Football Team, nicknamed the Red Lions (Roude Leiw)
- in Germany: Borussia Mönchengladbach (football)
- in the USA: Duke University's Men's Basketball Team
My Favourite Authors
- Isabel Allende, Chile
- Yaşar Kemal, Turkey
- Amin Maalouf, Lebanon
- Colin Thubron, UK
- Mark Twain, USA
Philanthropy Anyone?
Please visit the Hunger Site every day: clicking its yellow button will donate free food for somebody that day!
Support Around-n-Over, whose aim is to circumnavigate the globe by rowing and to climb the highest mountain on each of the six continents reached that way.
Last modified: Thu Jun 20 16:27:28 CEST 2024