Dieter Frankenberg was born in Friedberg/Hessen in 1938. After his A-levels in 1958 he studied physics and habillitated in Frankfurt am Main. Since 1991 he is the head of the department of radiation biology and radiation physics at the university Göttingen.

Since his days at school he regularly visited the evening classes at the Frankfurter Städelschule. His teacher is Walter Hergenhahn,  master pupil of Max Beckmann. He writes lyric since 1944.