The author received his PhD in physics from the University of Mainz in 2001, working with Lutz Schweikhard on molecular ions confined in a Penning trap. He then joined the group of Günter Werth and worked on precision measurements of the bound electron's magnetic moment in Penning traps. He extended this work as a research associate at Imperial College London in the group of Richard Thompson, and later joined Penning trap projects for precision spectroscopy at the GSI Helmholtz-Centre in Darmstadt, Germany.

• A Bit of History and Context.- Penning Trap Concept and Implementation.- Hyperbolic and Cylindrical Penning Traps.- Variations on the Penning Trap Concept.- Motion of a Single Particle in an Idealised Trap.- Motion of a Single Particle in a Real Penning Trap.- Inherent Effects of Single-Particle Confinement.- Particle Ensembles in Penning Traps.- Loading a Trap with Particles.- Excitation of Particle Motions.- Resonant Motional Coupling.- Motional Cooling in Penning Traps.- Particle Ensemble Density: Rotating Wall.- The Concept of Image Charges.- Electronic Detection and Frequency Measurement.- Radio-Frequency Spectroscopy: Penning-Trap Mass Spectroscopy.- Radio-Frequency Spectroscopy: Outreach.- Optical Spectroscopy.- Laser-Microwave Double-Resonance Spectroscopy.-  Magnetic Bottles as Implemented in Penning Traps.- Application of the Continuous Stern Gerlach Effect.- A: Penning Trap Confinement: The Brief Version.- B: Magnetic Field Creation and Control.- C: Equivalence of Results for Magnetic Bottle Strength.- D: Cryogenics.- E: Collisional Effects in Penning Traps.- F: General Design Considerations.- G: A More Detailed Look at the Potential.- H: A Special Case of Mediated Cooling.