Between 1946 and 1950 he studied electrical engineering with a focus on extra-low voltage at the Technische Universität Dresden, working with Heinrich Barkhausen and Georg Mierdel [de].

In the same year, the German Academy of Sciences at Berlin created a position for control engineering in Dresden (Led by: Heinrich Kindler).

[1] In the year 1968 Siegfried Pilz from the academy in Dresden followed him to Ilmenau, department of "Informationstechnik" (information technology), Hans-Joachim Zander [de] became his successor.

In the 1970s he began to teach and research the Dynamics and Simulation of ecological Systems, the basis for a field of TU Dresden that was established later, and that belongs to the Faculty of Environmental Sciences.

Several professors emerged from the occupational sphere of Karl Reinisch: Ulrich Engmann, Manfred Günther, Tatjana Lange, Jan Lunze, G. Otto, H. Puta, Michael Roth, Josef Sponer, and others.

His work focused on the optimal execution of complex processes in decentral, and especially hierarchical structures, applying this to water resource management (control of reservoirs) and agriculture.