Diethard Tautz (born 17 August 1957 in Glonn) is a German biologist and geneticist, who is primarily concerned with the molecular basis of the evolution of mammals.
Sommer studied biology at the RWTH Aachen University, at the University of Tübingen and at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich where he obtained his Diplom degree in 1989 and earned his Ph.D. in the lab of Diethard Tautz on a study of the evolution of segmentation genes in insects in 1992.