Johann Georg Dominicus von Linprun was born on 10 January 1714 in Viechtach in the Bavarian Forest, son of a municipal and district court clerk.

After completing secondary school Linprun studied law and philosophy at the universities of Prague, Salzburg and Ingolstadt.

On his return he obtained a position as a municipal court clerk first in Neumarkt and then in his home town of Viechtach.

In 1753[b] he represented Bavaria in negotiations over monetary standards in Vienna, where he earned so much trust and respect that the Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor, made him a peer of the realm and the Empress Maria Theresa presented him with an image of her bust on a gold chain.

[1] Linprun set up the first astronomical observatory for the Academy on his own initiative in a tower-like building on a bastion on the outskirts of Munich (today on Prinzregentenstraße opposite the Haus der Kunst).