[1] After finishing school at the Geschwister-Scholl-Gymnasium in Düsseldorf, Scheich studied medicine and philosophy at the University of Cologne (1961–63), at Munich (1963–64 and 1965–66) and Montpellier, France (1964–65).

From 1967 to 1969 Scheich worked as a PhD student on the human electroencephalogram (EEG) at the Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry Munich in the department run by Otto Detlev Creutzfeldt.

From 1972 to 1974 Scheich led a research group at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, on the subject of acoustic communication.

Between 1977 and 1985 he undertook field research trips to the Amazon basin, central Africa and Thailand, where he studied electric fish and the Behavioral communication of birds, that led to the discovery of Ultrasonic hearing.

The LIN, that has originated from an institute of the Scientific Academy of the GDR (East Germany), focuses on research into the mechanisms of learning and memory.