Ludwig F. Lischer completed his BSEE at Purdue in 1937 and joined Commonwealth Edison Company in July of that year. On leave from Edison during WWII, he served in the Army Signal Corps, the Army Air Corps, and the U. S. Air Force and was promoted from First Lieutenant to Lieutenant Colonel. He served Edison in various engineering capacities before being named assistant system planning engineer in 1958. He acted as administrative engineer to the vice president of engineering and production before being appointed manager of technical services in 1962. Two years later he was elected vice president and placed in charge of system planning, station electrical and mechanical engineering, transmission and distribution engineering, research and development and operation analysis.

For 2 years, he worked cooperatively with Argonne National Laboratory on the design and initial operation of the experimental boiling water reactor II. He was also a member of the committee on Nuclear and Alternative Energy Sources to the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering.

Lischer is a Fellow of IEEE. He is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Nuclear Society, the Western Society of Engineers, Eta Kappa Nu, and Tau Beta Pi. He has served on the board of the Chicago Engineering and Science Center and was a member of the board of trustees of the Illinois Institute of Technology. He has served on advisory committees for the Edison Electric Institute, the Electric Research Council, and the University of Illinois, Chicago Circle Campus.

At Purdue, Lischer has been involved in the work of the Purdue Research Foundation, the Purdue University Engineering Visiting Committee, and the Purdue Electric Power Center. He was named a Purdue Distinguished Engineering Alumnus in 1965 and received an honorary doctorate in 1976.

Lischer retired from Commonwealth Edison Company in February of 1980.