Karl Alfred von Zittel was born on September 25, 1839, in Bahlingen, Baden, Germany.

He was a German paleontologist and author. He was educated at the University of Heidelberg, the University of Paris, and the University of Vienna. He served on the Geological Survey of Austria and was an assistant at the Mineralogical Museum in Vienna. In 1863, he became a teacher of geology and mineralogy at the Polytechnic School in Karlsruhe, Germany, and in 1866, he was appointed Professor of Paleontology at the University of Munich. His early research was in minerals and petrography. In 1873-1874, von Zittel participated in a geological expedition to the Sahara desert in Libya. In 1880, he became a Professor of Geology and eventually director of the Natural History Museum in Munich. Von Zittel became president of the Royal Bavarian Academy of Sciences in 1899 and, in 1894, he was awarded the Wollaston medal by the Geological Society of London. He served as editor of the periodical Palaeontographica. He travelled extensively and was present at the opening of the Northern Pacific Railroad in 1883. He published numerous articles, papers, and books on paleontology. He is best known for his "Handbuch der Palaeontologie" (1876–1880).

In 1865, he married Ida Conradine Louise Schirmer (1842–1926). He died on January 5, 1904, in Munich, Germany.