Walther Otto Ernst Friedrich was born in to the family of an engineer who encouraged him to study technical sciences from childhood.

He graduated from high school in Aschersleben, where he did well in mathematics and physics, and also became interested in music, learning to play the violin, but showed no inclination for languages or history.

In 1911, he received a doctorate in physics from the University of Munich, where he had previously studied for six years, having transferred there from Geneva, for his research on X-ray radiation.

In 1929 he was appointed dean of the medical faculty of this university, having headed the German Radiological Society a year earlier.

According to East German sources, he helped two of his Jewish colleagues avoid deportation to camps.