Tommy was born in Linz, Upper Austria in 1983. In 2002, he moved to Vienna to study chemistry at the University of Vienna. In 2007, he joined the laboratories of Prof. Johann Mulzer and under his guidance he developed enantioselective syntheses of the complex polyketide kendomycin and echinopines A and B [Interesting tidbit: he and another graduate student worked on the echinopines without telling Prof. Mulzer; they finished the synthesis, wrote it up, and presented it to their boss.].