Karl Weissenberg was born in Vienna, Austria, 11 June 1893. He was educated at Vienna University, Berlin University and Jena University, 1910-16.

He was a researcher at the General Hospital, Vienna, 1914-18; Jena University, 1918-20; Berlin University, 1920-1; and the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Chemistry, Berlin, 1921-4. He was a Scientific Adviser, Kaiser Wilhelm Gesellschaft, 1925-33, and Professor of Physics, Berlin University, 1932. He left Germany and took up posts as Guest Professor, Sorbonne, Paris, 1933-4, and Guest Professor, Southampton University, 1934-40. He was Scientific Adviser to the Petroleum Warfare Department at Imperial College, London, 1943-6. He worked as Liaison Officer, British Cotton Research Association, Shirley Institute, Manchester, 1940-8; Head of the Mathematic Division, Rayon Research Association, 1948-50; and Senior Scientific Adviser (later Consultant), Ministry of Supply, based at Harwell, London and Cambridge, 1950-8. From 1958 he held a number of consultancies to industry in Britain and the United States. He was an expert in rheology, the study of the deformation and flow of materials, and invented the Weissenberg rheogoniometer, a device for measuring viscosity. He retired in The Netherlands. He died in 1976.