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He's been teaching at the RWTH in Aachen since 2001, and he's developed algorithms that may one day allow average users to generate 3-D computer models of real-life objects, an achievement that won him Germany's most highly endowed science award, the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize. His work has very practical applications - for industrial production and machine design, for example. Leif Kobbelt and his fellow researchers have created a 3-D model of the Aachen Cathedral's interior, which involved setting over 200 million input points. His ultimate objective is the fully automated generation of 3-D models.