Dr. Carl Ludwig Rominger was born on December 31, 1820, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

He was a physician and geologist. He graduated from the University of Tubingen (M.D., 1842). From 1842 to 1845, he remained at Tubingen as an assistant in the chemical laboratory and devoted considerable attention to the study of geology and paleontology. From 1845 to 1848, he travelled extensively on foot over a large portion of Germany, Austria, Hungary, Switzerland, and France, studying the geological structure of these countries. At the outbreak of the Revolution in 1848, he immigrated to New York City. He moved to Cincinnati, attracted by the fossiliferous rocks on which the city was built, and later, he relocated to Chillicothe, Ohio. He practiced medicine for a livelihood and continued the study of natural sciences, particularly the fresh-water mollusks and invertebrate fossils. In 1860, he moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he resided for the remainder of his life. In 1870, he became a paleontologist for the Geological Survey of Michigan, and in 1871, he was appointed a State Geologist. He also served as an Assistant Curator at the University of Michigan Natural History Museum. Rominger left important paleontological collections, being now the property of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, the National Museum, Washington, and the Bavarian Academy of Science, Munich. The Bavarian Academy of Science bestowed on him its Silver Medal Bene Merenti in 1895. He wrote numerous official publications on the geology of Michigan. Many species of fossils and one genus, the unique coral Romingeria, are named in his honour.

In 1854, he married Friederike Emilie Mayer (1826–1914). He died on April 22, 1907, in Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan.