Peter Benner was born in 1967 in Kirchen/Sieg. He studied mathematics at the RWTH Aachen with a minor in economics, where he graduated in 1993. He completed his doctorate in mathematics at the Technical University of Chemnitz-Zwickau in 1997. He then worked as a scientific assistant at the Centre for Technomathematics at the University of Bremen, where he habilitated in 2001. Benner then taught at the TU Berlin and the TU Hamburg-Harburg. He has been Professor of Mathematics in Industry and Technology in Chemnitz since 2003. Benner is co-editor of various scientific journals and a member of several mathematical societies. At the beginning of 2011 he was appointed honorary professor at the Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg. Since January 1, 2011 he is also a member of the board of the "Gesellschaft für Angewandte Mathematik und Mechanik" (GAMM).