My name is Martin Ueding—physicist, software developer, cyclist, artist, and DIY enthusiast. This blog and the website behind it reflect my interests: software development, physics, cycling, drawing, DIY, reading, transportation policy, and photography.

Physics and Software Development

I studied physics and earned my Ph.D. in theoretical physics—Lattice QCD. This shapes how I view the world: quantitatively and model-based, as both a scientist and a software developer. I apply this way of thinking to many areas of life. I use these methods to analyze my outdoor activities, understand our electricity consumption, or think about finances.

I got my first computer at age five and took my first steps in DOS batch. At thirteen, I started learning C; back then, pointers were still too much for me, but I had taken the first step. Since then, I’ve learned and used many programming languages: PHP, Java, Python, C++, Haskell, Wolfram Language, R, CUDA. I’m currently learning Rust. Every new language has shifted my thinking about programming a little bit.

In computational physics, I was able to combine my interest in physics and programming. I now work as a High Performance Computing Engineer in the AI industry. High-performance computing there involves optimizing the inference and training of large language models on GPU clusters.

In my free time, I still enjoy solving difficult problems. Project Euler offers such mathematical puzzles; I document my solutions here.

My code can be found on GitHub.

Cycling and Transportation Policy

Since graduating from high school, I’ve been making my daily trips by bike. What began as a habit has since become an integral part of my worldview. I experience firsthand what good cycling infrastructure makes possible, and I’m correspondingly frustrated by what it looks like in Germany in general and in Bonn in particular.

Trips to Copenhagen and the Netherlands have shown me that things can be fundamentally different. Cycling can be comfortable, safe, and suitable for everyday use if the political will is there. In 2017, I got involved with the Bonn Cycling Dialogue, but all our submissions ended up in a drawer. I was active with the Bonn Cycling Initiative starting in 2021. By 2024, the headwind from the city administration had become too much for me, and I took a break. With the new conservative mayor in office since 2025 and my move out of Bonn, I have largely stepped back from this local political involvement. Every now and then, I still write a blog post about it.

Outdoors, Photography, and Activity Data

I almost always bring my camera along on bike rides and explore the surroundings. I record all my outdoor activities and analyze them using my own tool Geo Activity Playground. Here, too, you can see the overlap between being outdoors and quantitative analysis.

Drawing

I’ve been drawing with pencils for several years now. As a hobby I can do indoors with my hands, it’s a nice change of pace from programming and cycling. You can find a gallery of my drawings in the Pencil Drawings.

DIY

Since I’ve been living in my own house, there have been plenty of DIY projects: painting walls, building a kitchen, small repairs, gardening. It’s a nice change of pace from screen work because it’s hands-on and the results are immediately visible. I’m constantly learning new skills and using new tools, and I actually find it just as exciting as a new software project.

Travel

I wouldn’t describe myself as a frequent traveler. However, a few trips have had a profound impact on my perspective: My year abroad in rural America left an American accent in my English, and a conference and summer school in China gave me a starkly contrasting view of different ways of life. For me, the most interesting thing about traveling isn’t the sightseeing itself, but getting a sense of the culture and daily life of the people who live there.