Dirk Tielbuerger was born on November 21, 1959, in Herford, Germany. After school he did his duty in the German Navy. He received the Ph.D. degree in solid-state physics in 1989.
After receiving the Ph.D. degree, he became a trainee in military technology for the German government. Since 1991, he has been a Scientist in the Federal Armed Forces Underwater Acoustics and Marine Geophysics Research Institute (FWG) in Kiel, Germany. In 1994-1995, he worked for one year in the Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC.