Wolfgang Osten received the MSc/Diploma in Physics from the Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena in 1979. From 1979 to 1984, he was a member of the Institute of Mechanics in Berlin working in the field of experimental stress analysis and optical metrology. In 1983, he received the Ph.D. degree from the Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg for his thesis in the field of holographic interferometry. From 1984 to 1991, he was employed at the Central Institute of Cybernetics and Information Processes ZKI in Berlin making investigations in digital image processing and machine vision. Between 1988 and 1991, he was heading the Institute for Digital Image Processing at the ZKI. In 1991, he joined the Bremen Institute of Applied Beam Technology (BIAS) to establish and to direct the Department Optical 3D-Metrology until 2002. From September 2002 until October 2018 he has been a full professor at the University of Stuttgart and director of the Institute for Applied Optics. From 2006 until 2010 he was the vice rector for research and technology transfer of the University Stuttgart.

His research work is focused on new concepts for industrial inspection and metrology by combining modern principles of optical metrology, sensor technology and digital image processing. Special attention is directed to the development of digital optical technologies such as digital holography and resolution enhanced technologies for the investigation of micro and nano structures. Osten is fellow of OSA, SPIE, EOS, SEM, and senior member of IEEE. He is a Honorary Professor of the Shenzhen University, China, a Honorary Doctor of the University of Technology of Ilmenau, Germany, the 2011 recipient of the Dennis Gabor Award of the International Society for Optics and Photonics SPIE, the 2018 recipient of the Rudolf Kingslake Medal of the SPIE, and the 2019 recipient of the Chandra Vikram Award of the SPIE.

He is an OSA Fellow and recipient of the 2019 Emmett N. Leith Medal “For extending the limits of optical metrology by integrating digital image processing with modern optical measurement techniques.”