Pieter Pistorius was born in, what is now known as Modimolle, in the Limpopo Province. He studied at the University of Pretoria and at Sheffield University. He attained a PhD degree in Phase Transformation Behaviour of 12% Cr Steels at the University of Pretoria. He held various positions in the manufacturing industry before joining the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgical Engineering at the University of Pretoria for a second time in 2015. He is responsible for undergraduate, and postgraduate teaching and research in welding engineering. He is a Fellow of the SAIMM, a registered professional metallurgical engineer, and an international welding engineer.