Olav Wiegand was born on 22 Feb 1962 in Joensuu, Finland. For the term of his German civil service he worked for the international children's aid organization   Terre des Hommes.   He then began studies in philosophy at the University of Mainz, where his first focus was the lectures of the phenomenologist Thomas M. Seebohm who had just transferred from   Pennsylvania State University   to a full professorship in Mainz.

In the winter semester of 1987/88 Olav Wiegand started studying Computer Science as well, in the context of which he implemented a theorem proving system (using PROLOG) in 1991. This system, in conjunction with an analysis of its philosophical relevance, earned him an M.A. degree that was jointly refereed by the Depts. of   Philosophy   and   Computer Science   of the University of Mainz.

In January of 1991 he began his first official position as a programmer and systems administrator in the   Math Department of the University of Mainz.   However, briefly thereafter Prof. Seebohm offered him a position in the Philosophy Dept., which gave him the opportunity to develop his work on phenomenology in the form of a dissertation. In spite of a heavy teaching load, the dissertation was submitted in 1994 (the final oral exam took place 6 July 1995). The thesis was published in a thoroughly revised version in 1998 as   Interpretationen der Modallogik   (Interpretations of Modal Logic) and earned the Award of the Johannes Gutenberg-University for the year 1996, and the   International Edward G. Ballard Book Price for the year 1999.  

In October 1995 Wiegand received a position as associate prof. (wissenschaftlicher Assistent) in the Philosophy Dept of the U of Mainz. His main duty here was to complete a Habilitation on the subject of the phenomenological background of (Husserlian) mereology, and to establish a philosophical fundament for connecting the formal study of natural language with phenomenology, formal mereology and Gestalt-psychology.

In April 1998 he took up a research stay in the USA, funded by the   Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.   He was appointed Visiting Scholar at the Dept. of Philosophy of   New York University   as well as in the Mathematics Dept. of the   M.I.T.   He also visited the   Philosophy Dept. of SUNY at Buffalo,   in order to work with   Barry Smith   on problems of mereology. On the invitation of Kit Fine,   he was then once again appointed to the position of Visiting Scholar at NYU in 1999.

Since 1995 Wiegand is assistant editor of the book series   Central-European Value Studies,   which is published with   Rodopi Publishers,   (Amsterdam and Atlanta). He was received frequent invitations to teach and lecture at   Tampere University (Finland),   where he collaborates with   Leila Haaparanta.  

Since Januar 2000 Wiegand is a member of the International Board of Advisors of the   Center for Advanced Research in Phenomenology, Inc. (CARP)   and since Feb of 2001 has been serving as consulting editor for the book series   Classics in Phenomenology,   as well as for the journals   Contemporary Phenomenological Thought   published with   (Noesis Press).  

Since Sep 2002 Olav Wiegand works for the   Academy of the Sciences and Literature, Mainz.   Since Sep 2003 he is head of the project "Lexikon deutsch-jüdischer Autoren."  that is located at Frankfurt University.