Adolf Slattenschek studied mechanical engineering at the Graz University of Technology and graduated in 1926. He then took up an assistant position at the Chair of Mechanical Technology, Machine Tools and Strength of Materials at the Graz University of Technology and worked at the Graz Experimental Station. In 1933 he received his habilitation. In 1935 he advanced to the position of deputy director of the Graz Experimental Institute and shortly thereafter moved to the Stuttgart Materials Testing Institute, where he worked until 1937.
After the end of the war, he returned to Styria and founded “Maschinen- u. Apparatebau Dr. A. Slattenschek” there. As early as 1949, he was appointed Associate Professor and Director of the Institute for Mechanical Technology and Machine Tools at the Graz University of Technology. In 1952, Adolf Slattenschek was appointed full professor at the Vienna University of Technology and head of the Institute for Mechanical Technology and Building Materials as well as the university’s own Technical Testing and Research Institute.