[1] He was born in Bautzen, the son of the Government Commissioner of City Planning Otto August Braunbek (1869–1929).
In 1925, he received a doctorate in engineering and completed his habilitation in theoretical physics the following year at the University of Stuttgart, where he continued as a lecturer.
In 1961 and 1962, he served as Dean of Mathematical and Natural Sciences of the University of Tübingen.
In 1939, he disproved Earnshaw's theorem by showing that there are magnetic fields in which small diamagnetic bodies can float in a stable position.
Braunbek also authored a number of popular science physics books.