Prof. Dr.Dr.h.c. Werner Purgathofer
 
Werner Purgathofer is a full professor at TU Wien (Vienna University of Technology), doing research and education in computer graphics. He started working in this field in 1980, and received a Ph.D. in 1984 from TU Wien. He has written a German language textbook on computer graphics and co-edited several other books. Purgathofer has organised the 1991 and 2006 Eurographics annual conferences in Vienna, and will also organise Eurographics'2021 in Vienna. His current activities concentrate on rendering algorithms, color, and visualization. He is the president and scientific director of the VRVis Research Center for virtual reality and visualisation (www.vrvis.at) in Vienna, which he founded in 2000. From 2001 until 2011 he was vice-chair of the Commission for Scientific Visualisation of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Purgathofer has been a member of Eurographics since 1981 and is also a member of the European Academy of Sciences, ACM, IEEE Computer Society, GI and OCG. Serving in the Executive Committee of Eurographics from 1988 until 2015, he was Publications Board Chairman from 1993 to 2000, and he became a Fellow of the association in 1997. From 2013 to 2014 he was chairman of Eurographics, and since 2015 he is the chairman of their Fellows. In 2006 he received the Distinguished Career Award from Eurographics, and in 2010 he received a Doctor honoris causa from the "Gheorghe Asachi" Technical University of Iasi. In 2017 he was awarded the Gold medal of Eurographics, and also a guest professor title from Hebei University of Technology in Tianjin, China.