Wiescher completed in 1969 his
Abitur at Gymnasium
Münchberg in
Bavaria. At the
University of Münster, he graduated in 1972 with
Vordiplom in physics, in 1975 with
Diplom in solid state physics, and in 1980 with doctorate (
summa cum laude) in nuclear physics. His doctoral dissertation entitled
Measurement of the Reactions in the CNO Cycles was supervised by
Claus Rolfs. As a post-doc Wiescher was from 1980 to 1983 at the
Ohio State University, from 1983 to 1985 under the supervision of
Karl-Ludwig Kratz at the
University of Mainz, and from 1985 to 1986 at
Caltech's Kellogg Radiation Laboratory. At the
University of Notre Dame he was from 1986 to 1990 an assistant professor, from 1990 to 1993, and from 1993 to 1998 a full professor, before his appointment as Freimann Professor of Physics in 1998. In addition to his Freimann Professorship, he was the director of the
Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics (JINA) at the University of Notre Dame from 2003-2015 and continued to be director of the Institute for Structure and Nuclear Astrophysics at Notre Dame until 2022, the
Michigan State University and the
University of Chicago. He is also an adjunct professor at Michigan State University and the
University of Surrey. He has done research in nuclear astrophysics, low-energy experimental physics, reaction physics with stable and radioactive beams, and analysis of cultural heritage artifacts. a biography of
Arthur E. Haas, and the textbook
Radioaktivität Ursprung und Auswirkungen eines Naturphänomens. Band I (in German), as well as the co-author, with Khachatur Manukyan, of the textbook Scientific Analysis of Cultural Heritage Objects''. He has given over 200 presentations at national and international conferences. Wiescher was elected in 1998 a fellow of the
American Physical Society (APS), in 2009 a fellow of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science, and in 2017 a foreign member of
Academia Europaea. and in 2018 the LAD Laboratory Astrophysics Prize of the
American Astronomical Society. Wiescher was the visiting Heraeus Professor in Frankfurt in 2018-2020 and a Wolfson Fellow of the Royal Society at the University of Edinburgh from 2021 to 2024. His doctoral students include
Hendrik Schatz. ==Selected publications==