PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Per-Erik Danielsson

Per-Erik Danielsson was a Swedish engineer whose work on distance maps and optical flow connects his career to computer vision. Born in Växjö in 1936, he graduated from KTH in 1960 and became a professor at Linköping in 1972. His research included an efficient algorithm for Euclidean distance maps and a single-chip optical-flow paper, alongside service as chair of SSBA and first vice president of IAPR. Linköping made him an honorary doctor of technology in 1982, he joined the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences in 1988, and he died in 2024.

Born
1936
Works
56
Citations
3,146
h-index
17
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 1936–1971

    From Växjö to Lund

    A Swedish engineer, he is born in Växjö in 1936, graduates from the Royal Institute of Technology in 1960, and earns a technology licentiate in 1967. He works at Saab from 1960 to 1963, at IBM Sweden in 1964 and at Sweden's Defence Research Institute from 1964 to 1967, and lectures at Lund from 1967 to 1971.

  2. 1972–2024

    Professor at Linköping

    In 1972, he becomes professor of electrical automation and computer engineering at Linköping.

  3. 1980–1984

    Distance mapping and SSBA chair

    In 1980, he publishes an efficient sequential algorithm for Euclidean distance maps in binary pictures. The map assigns each object or background pixel its shortest distance to the nearest pixel in the other class. He chairs SSBA from 1980 to 1984.

  4. 1982

    An honorary doctorate

    In 1982, Linköping University awards him an honorary doctorate in technology.

  5. 1986–1988

    IAPR first vice president

    He serves as IAPR's first vice president from 1986 to 1988.

  6. 1988

    Joining the engineering academy

    In 1988, he joins the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences.

  7. 1990

    Single-chip optical flow

    In 1990, he and four coauthors publish a paper on single-chip high-speed optical-flow computation at the IAPR Workshop on Machine Vision Applications.

  8. 2024

    Death in 2024

    He dies in 2024.

Career

  1. 2001–2008Linköping UniversityProfessor
  2. 1986–1988International Association for Pattern RecognitionFirst Vice President
  3. 1980–1984SSBAChair

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

Most-cited works

  1. Euclidean distance mapping1980 · Computer Graphics and Image Processing · 2,001 citations
  2. A fast sequential method for polygonal approximation of digitized curves1984 · Computer Vision Graphics and Image Processing · 285 citations
  3. Generalized and Separable Sobel Operators1990 · Elsevier eBooks · 92 citations
  4. A new shape factor1978 · Computer Graphics and Image Processing · 81 citations
  5. Evaluation of methods for shaded surface display of CT volumes1991 · Computerized Medical Imaging and Graphics · 78 citations

From OpenAlex, as of 21 October 2026.

  1. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Linköping University. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  2. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes Linköping University. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  3. 5 of the 25 people with the most-cited recent papers also lead on career citationsIncludes Linköping University. We compare citations to 2023–2025 papers with career citations and h-index, after correcting reviewed publication-date errors: who leads, when they started and where they work.
  4. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Linköping University. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. Per-Erik Danielsson – Wikipedia sv.wikipedia.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  2. Euclidean distance mapping oamonitor.ireland.openaire.eu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  3. SSBA:s historia – SSBA ssba.org.se. Checked 20 October 2026.
  4. Honorary Doctors – Linköping University liu.se. Checked 20 October 2026.
  5. IAPR - Executive Committee old.iapr.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  6. Per-Erik Danielsson csauthors.net. Checked 20 October 2026.