She was the first Austrian woman to earn a doctorate in civil engineering and in 1973 became the first female associate professor at the Vienna University of Technology.

[1] Tungl enrolled in mathematics, physics and chemistry at the University of Vienna in 1940,[2] but changed subjects after one year and studied civil engineering, graduating from the TU Wien in 1948.

[4][5] Tungl started work in the bridge construction department of the General Directorate of the Austrian Federal Railways, the ÖBB.

In 1963, her habilitation (post doctorate degree) at the Vienna University of Technology looked at the fields of elasticity and material strength theory.

[5] She became head of the department of experimental Spannungs- und Dehnungsmessung, (stress and strain measurement) until she retired for health reasons in 1975.