Martin R. Zirnbauer (born 25 April 1958) is a professor of theoretical physics at the University of Cologne.Zirnbauer studied at the Technical University of Munich and Oxford University, where he earned his PhD. In 1987 he was appointed at age 29 to Cologne. In 1996 he acquired his professorial chair. Among his foreign research sabbaticals, he visited the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. His research specialty is the mathematical physics of mesoscopic systems.In 2012,he was awarded the Max Planck Medal for his achievements in theoretical physics.