Abstract :
Manfred Deistler was born in St+ Pölten, Austria, on September 23, 1941, as
the younger of two brothers+ After attending elementary school and high school
~Gymnasium! in St+ Pölten, he studied electrical engineering at the University
of Technology Vienna, then known as the Technische Hochschule Wien+ He
graduated with the degree of “Diplom-Ingenieur” ~which is roughly equivalent
to a master’s degree! in 1964+ After working in industry for a year and a
half, he attended the Institute of Advanced Studies Vienna and earned a diploma
in economics from this institution in 1968+ During this period he started work
on a Ph+D+ thesis in applied mathematics at the Technischen Hochschule Wien,
obtaining the Ph+D+ degree in 1970+ After academic appointments at the University
of Regensburg as an assistant professor and at the University of Bonn
Professor Manfred Deistler
Econometric Theory, 23, 2007, 711–748+ Printed in the United States of America+
DOI: 10+10170S0266466607070302
© 2007 Cambridge University Press 0266-4666007 $15+00 711
as an associate professor, he was appointed full professor of econometrics at
the University of Technology Vienna in 1978, where he has been ever since+
He is married to Dr+ Gerda Deistler-Russ, and they have a daughter, Gerda+
Manfred Deistler has worked extensively in econometrics and systems identification,
which has resulted in numerous papers and an important book with
Ted Hannan @1#+ He is also a Fellow of the Econometric Society, a Fellow of
the Journal of Econometrics, and a Fellow of IEEE ~The Institute of Electrical
and Electronic Engineers!+ He is a corresponding member of the Austrian
Academy of Sciences+ He is or has been a member of the editorial boards of
numerous scientific journals, such as Econometrica, Econometric Reviews,
Econometric Theory, Empirical Economics, Journal of Econometrics, Journal
of Forecasting, Journal of Mathematical Systems and Control, Journal of Multivariate
Analysis, Journal of Time Series Analysis, SIAM Journal on Control
and Optimization, SIAM Journal on Matrix Analysis and Applications, and Surveys
on Mathematics for Industry+ He also is a member of the advisory board
of Econometric Theory+ Manfred Deistler has also been a most important force
in establishing econometrics in Austria+
The interview was conducted on February 17, 2006, in Manfred Deistler’s
office at the University of Technology Vienna in our common native language,
German, and later was transcribed into English+ The help of Ingmar
Prucha in preparing the interview and comments by Hannes Ledolter, Hannes
Leeb, and Richard Nickl on a first draft are gratefully acknowledged+
