Biography

Preben Terndrup Pedersen, born October 15th 1940 in Skive Denmark, received a Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1969 from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). In 1971-72 he was Research Fellow at Dept. of Engineering and Applied Physics at Harvard University, USA and in 1973 visiting researcher at Det Norske Veritas, Norway. Professor of Strength of Marine Structures at Department of Naval Architecture and Offshore Engineering at DTU from 1973 to 2010. He was Vice-president of the Danish Academy of Technical Sciences 1998-2002. During 1992 – 2001 he was Leader of the Mechanical Engineering, Energy and Production Sector of DTU, and during 2001 - 2007 Head of Department of Mechanical Engineering. Employed as Strategic Scientist at Wuhan University of Technology, China from 2016 to 2019.

He is member of The Danish Academy of Technical Sciences, Foreign Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), Foreign Member of the Norwegian Academy of Technical Sciences, Foreign Member of The Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters, and appointed "Thousands of People Plan of China" foreign expert. He is a member of the editorial board of a number of international journals.

He has been chairman of the board of directors for IPU, member of the Danish Patent Appeal Board, the Board of Directors of FORCE Technology, Chairman of Myhrwold’s Foundation and of the Otto Mønsted Foundation.

He is advisor on risk management for the Fehmarn Belt Link feasibility study and for the Great Belt Link and has been advisor on risk management for the Øresund Link, member of the Steering Group for Science for Peace Programme of NATO, the Danish Defence Research Board, chairman of the COWI Foundation, vice-chairman of the Danish Board of Councils for Independent Research, member of the Danish Research Communication Price Committee, and president of Int. Ship and Offshore Structures Congress. He has been advisor to A. P. Møller – Mærsk and strongly involved in the design of the then largest containership Emma Mærsk at Odense-Lindø Shipyard. In 2012 he was member of a technical committee for evaluation of the stability and procedures for salvage of the wreck of Costa Concordia in Italy. Since 2014 he has served as an expert within safety philosophy in connection with the Fjord Crossing Project E39 in Western Norway. He has authored or co-authored books and papers in refereed journals on structural strength, dynamics and risk analyses of marine structures. He has taught Marine Structures for M.Sc. and Ph.D. students.

In 2006 he was awarded the Davidson Medal from the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, USA, for outstanding scientific accomplishment in ship research. In 2009 he was awarded the Alexander Foss Gold Medal for achievements within technical sciences from the Technical University of Denmark and the Danish Maritime Price for contributions to innovation and growth of the Danish maritime sector. In 2010 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Maritime Academics at ShipTek, Dubai. He was awarded the Doctor Honoris Causa degree from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology for contributions to research within marine structures, and received the Confederation of European Maritime Technology Societies (CEMT) 2010 Award for significant contributions to European shipbuilding. He has been guest Professor at Zhejiang University, Hangzhou since 2010 and Honorary Professor at Ningbo Institute of Technology since 2015.