Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Peter Mertens (born in 1937) studied industrial engineering at the Technische Hochschule Darmstadt, where he also did his doctorate in 1961. He then worked at the Technische Universität in Munich, the Johannes Kepler University in Linz as well as at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 1966, Peter Mertens submitted the first habilitation paper in the German-speaking world on business informatics at the Technische Universität in Munich: “Inter-Company Cooperation and Integration in Automated Data Processing”. Subsequently, he worked as a CEO for a consultancy in Zurich.
In 1968, he hold the first chair in the German-speaking world, which concentrated on corporate information processing at the University in Linz. From 1970 until 2005, Peter Mertens was head of the Chair of Information Systems I at the School of Business and Economics at the University Erlangen-Nuremberg. At the same time, he was the director of the research group “Betriebliche Anwendungen” at the Faculty of Engineering. Since its foundation in 1999 until 2011, he taught at the “Bayerische Elite Akademie”.
Including the adapted editions and translations into Chinese, English, Italian and Russian, Peter Mertens published 77 books and nearly 600 articles in journals and edited books and volumes. His monograph “Integrierte Informationsverarbeitung 1: Operative Systeme in der Industrie” was released in 18 editions.
Peter Mertens was co-director of the Regional Computer Centre Erlangen for many years, member of the “Senatskommission für Rechenanlagen der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft”, board member and chairman of the “Verband der Hochschullehrer für Betriebswirtschaft”, member of the presidium of the “Gesellschaft für Informatik”, and editor-in-chief of the journal WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK.
Peter Mertens is fellow of the “Gesellschaft für Informatik”, honorary member of the “Verband der Hochschullehrer für Betriebswirtschaft” as well as honorary doctorate at the Universities in Augsburg and Bern, at the TU Darmstadt, the Otto Beisheim School of Management in Koblenz-Vallendar, and the University of Economics and Business in Vienna. He was honored with the Federal Cross of Merit, the Ring of Honor of the University of Economics and Business in Vienna, and the Medal of Honor of the School of Business, Economics and Society.