Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Stefan Sauter Born in 1964, Heidelberg, Germany. Studies of mathematics and physics at the University of Heidelberg (1985-1990). Scientific assistant at the University of Kiel (PhD 1993). 1993/94 PostDoc at the University of College Park. Until 1998, senior assistant at the University of Kiel (Habilitation 1998). Chair in Mathematics at the University of Leipzig (1998/99). Since 1999 Ordinarius in Mathematics at the Universität Zürich. Prof. Christoph Schwab, PhD Born in 1962, Flörsheim, Germany. Studies of mathematics, mechanics, and aerospace engineering in Darmstadt and College Park, Maryland, USA (1982-1989). PhD in Applied Mathematics, University of Maryland, College Park 1989. Postdoctoral fellow (1990/91) University of Westminster, London, UK. Assistant professor (1991-1994) and associate professor (1995) of Mathematics, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, USA. Extraordinarius (1995-1998) and Ordinarius (1998-) for mathematics at the ETH Zürich. The authors were organizing various conferences and minisymposia on fast boundary element methods, e.g., at Oberwolfach, MAFELAP conferences at Brunel UK, Zurich Summer Schools, and were speakers on these topics at numerous international conferences.