Karl Theophil Fries was born in Kiedrich, Germany on (1875-03-13)13 March 1875.
After his family moved to Frankfurt he went to school there, but chose to study chemistry at the near University of Marburg in 1894.
He became a professor in Marburg until the retirement of Theodor Zincke and the start of World War I in 1914.
He became a professor at the Technical University at Brunswick in 1918 and stayed there until a conflict with some Nazi habilitants in 1938.
Karl Fries died on 6 September 1962 in Marburg and was buried near his academic advisor Theodor Zincke.