Heinrich Ernst Beyrich was born on August 31, 1815, in Berlin, Germany.

He was a German paleontologist who was educated at the university in Berlin and Bonn. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in 1837 at the University of Berlin and was subsequently employed in the Mineralogical Museum of the University, becoming director of its paleontological collection in 1857, and director of the Mineralogical Museum in 1875. He was one of the founders of the German Geological Society in 1848. In 1865, he was appointed Professor of Geology and Paleontology at Berlin University. When the Prussian Geological Survey was instituted in 1873, he was appointed its co-director and he was given the scientific management of the geological mapping of the Prussian state. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1884. In 1885, he acted as President of the III. International Geological Congress in Berlin.

He died on July 9, 1896, in Berlin, Germany.