German Academy of Technical Science

Eckehard Schnieder was born in 1949 in the seaport Wilhelmshaven, Germany. He received his diploma (equivalent to master degree) in electrical engineering with specialisation in control and computer engineering in 1972 from the Technische Universität Braunschweig. Until 1979 he worked as a research scientist at the same university concerning advanced electrical drive control systems simulation resulting in the world’s first fully micro computer controlled electrical drive. He received his Dr.-Ing. (PhD in engineering) in 1978. From 1979 until 1989 Dr. Schnieder joined Siemens Division Eisenbahnsignaltechnik (now: Rail Automation), where he directed the German maglev TRANSRAPID operation control system’s design and development as well as the automatic control of Siemens people mover.

Since 1989, Dr. Schnieder is a full professor and head of the Institute of Traffic Safety and Automation Engineering, formerly Institute of Control and Automation Engineering. From 2000 – 2002 he represented the Technical University Braunschweig as a vice president.

He directed the first formal modelling of the European Railway Control System (ETCS), the basic research on satellite assisted railway location systems, and other German and European projects for traffic safety and automation in cooperation with operators, suppliers, and safety authorities. Professor Schnieder was offered several professorships, e.g. the decan of Volkswagen AutoUni and recently as a visiting professor of the Bejing Jiaotong University China; in 1998 he received the Carl-Adam-Petri-Award of the Society of Design and Process Science. In 2005 he received the Doctor honoris causa from Todor Kableshkov University of Transportation, Sofia followed by the Dr. h.c. of the Slovakian University Zilina and Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg Germany both in 2010, honouring his achievements both in the educational and the scientific sector within the cooperation between the universities. Presently he is spokesmen of the German Academy of Technical Science (acatech).