Tanneberger served as director of the "Zentralinstitut für Krebsforschung" (Central Institute of Cancer Research) of the "Akademie der Wissenschaften der DDR" (Academy of Sciences of the German Democratic Republic) from 1974 until 1990. In 2005, he founded a Center for Peace Work in Anklam in northeast Germany. He was born in Chemnitz, Germany.