Friedrich Adolf Paneth was born in Austria in 1887, the son of Jewish parents but raised as a Protestant.

He received his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Vienna in 1910, but soon switched to study radiochemistry, and began to make a name for himself. From there, he naturally taught himself photography, including the new and complex color process known as Autochrome.

In 1913, Paneth married Else Hartmann, and took her on a honeymoon to Cairo. The next year they had a daughter, Eva, and in 1918 a son, Heinz.