I was born on 20 November 1886 in Vienna, the son of university professor Anton Ritter von Frisch and his wife Marie, née Exner. I studied at a grammar school and later at the University of Vienna in the Faculty of Medicine. After the first exams, I switched to the Faculty of Philosophy and studied Zoology in Munich and Vienna. I received my doctorate from the University of Vienna in 1910. In the same year I became assistant to Richard Hertwig at the Zoological Institute at the University of Munich. There I gained my University Teaching Certificate in Zoology and Comparative Anatomy.

In 1921 I went to the University of Rostock as Professor and Director at the Zoology Faculty; in 1923 I moved to Breslau and in 1925 I succeeded my former teacher Richard Hertwig in Munich. With support from the Rockefeller Foundation I oversaw the building of a new Zoological Institute with the best facilities available. After the destruction of the latter during the Second World War, I went to Graz in 1946, but returned to Munich in 1950 after the Institute had been reopened. I have been a Professor Emeritus since 1958, and have continued my scientific studies. Of my published papers the following are the most important:

Der Farben und Formensinn der Bienen: Zoologische Jarbücher (Physiologie) 35, 1-188, (1914-15). (The bee's sense of colour and shape.)

Uber den Geruchssinn der Bienen und seine blütenbiologische Bedeutung: Zoologische Jahrbücher (Physiologie) 37, 1-238 (1919). (The bee's sense of smell and its significance during blooming.)

Uber die "Sprache" der Bienen. Eine tierpsychologische Untersuchung: Zoologischer Jahrbücher (Physiologie) 40, 1-186 (1923). (Bee's 'language'- an examination of animal psychology.)

Untersuchung über den Sitz des Gehorsinnes bei der Elritze: Zeitschrift für vergleichende Physiologie 17, 686-801 (1932), with R. Stetter. (Examination into the position of the sense of hearing in small insects.)

Uber den Geschmachsinn der Bienen: Zeitschrift für vergleichende Physiologie 21, 1-156 (1934). (The bee's sense of taste.)

Uber einen Schreckstoff der Fischhaut und seine biologische Bedeutung: Zeitschrift für vergleichende Physiologie 29, 46-145 (1941). (On the repellant substance on fish skin and its biological significance.)

Die Tanze der Bienen: Osterreichische Zoologische Zeitschrift 1, 1-48 (1946). (The bee's dances.)

Die Polarisation des Himmelslichtes als orientierender Faktor bei den Tanzen der Bienen: Experientia (Basel) 5, 142-148 (1949). (The polarisation of skylight as a means of orientation during the bee's dances.)

Die Sonne als Kompa im Leben der Bienen: Experientia (Basel) 6, 210-221 (1950). (The sun as compass in the life of bees.)

Tanzsprache und Orientierung der Bienen, Springer Verlag Berlin-Heidelberg-New York (1965). (The Dance Language and Orientation of Bees, Harvard University Press, 1967.)

From Nobel Lectures, Physiology or Medicine 1971-1980.

Dr von Frisch died in 1982.