Max Kurrein was born in Linz, Austria on April 29, 1878, a son of Rabbi Adolf Kurrein and his wife Jessie née Loewe. He studied at the Royal and Imperial German Technical College (K.K. Deutsche Technische Schule) in Prague, where he earned a doctorate. Later he spent four years in England at the firm W.T. Avery in Birmingham. Beginning in 1913 he conducted experimental research on machine tools and later became lecturer at the Technical College of Berlin (Technische Hochschule Berlin) until his dismissal in April 1933.
In 1934 he began teaching at the Department of Machine Engineering at the Technion, the technological institute in Haifa (known today as the Technion – Israeli Institute of Technology). At first he taught the Machine Engineering Department's lectures himself until more teaching staff were added. He retired in 1961 but continued to write books in his field. Max Kurrein died in Haifa in 1967.
Max Kurrein married Charlotte Blau in 1918. They had two children.
From the guide to the Max Kurrein Family Collection, 1896-2011, (Leo Baeck Institute)
