He earned a doctorate in mathematics in 1965 under Edmund Hlawka, with a dissertation entitled Rationale Approximationen Irrationaler Zahlen (Rational Approximations of Irrational Numbers).

Among Maurer's important contributions is the development and promotion of remote interactive data terminals that could display graphics rather than only the text that was conventional at the time, and even exchange programs.

Maurer thinks that future applications of computers can barely be described using today's terminology, and so employs metaphors such as telepathy and teleportation when discussing some of them.

He favors a move away from the Von Neumann architecture's treatment of program code as a type of data, with it instead being put on non-modifiable media such as ROM chips that would be more secure from attacks by viruses.

On non-technical issues, Maurer writes in favor of greater efforts to promote economic equality in managing a transition to a globalized economy, while maintaining local capabilities.