Georg von Békésy (György Békésy) was born in Budapest, Hungary, on June 3, 1899 to Alexander von Békésy, a diplomat, and his wife, Paula Mazaly. George was the oldest of three children (Lola, born in 1901, and Miklós, born in 1903).

He received his early education in Munich, Constantinople, Budapest, and Zurich. At the University of Berne he studied chemistry and after a short stint in the military he received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Budapest in 1923. He began his scientific career in the laboratory of the Hungarian Post, Telephone, and Telegraph. His work there consisted mostly with problems of long-distance telephone transmission, but he spent a lot of time studying the ear as a main component of the transmission system. In 1932, von Békésy was appointed privat docent in the University of Budapest, and in 1940 he became Professor of Experimental Physics. All the while he continued his research at the Hungarian post.

During the Soviet occupation after World War II, von Békésy accepted an invitation to go to the Karolinska Intitutet in Stockholm because conditions became too stifling for scientific research in Hungary. A year later, he came to the United States and joined the faculty at Harvard University. He was appointed Senior Research Fellow in Psychophysics, a position he held for 19 years. In 1961 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology for his demonstration of the physical means by which sound is received and analyzed in the cochlea. When von Békésy was 67, he resigned from Harvard and moved to Hawaii, where he accepted an appointment as Professor of Sensory Sciences, an endowed chair provided by the Hawaiian Telephone Company. He continued his research in his new laboratory until his death in June 13, 1972.

He was an avid collector of art and books about art. See the book "Georg von Békésy: Selected Objects..." (Wirgin, 1974) that describes his collection. After his death, the art objects went to the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm, and his book collection (3,000 items) came to Hamilton Library at the University of Hawaii.