He studied astronomy and physics at the University of Dorpat, and furthered his education of physics in Paris in the laboratories of Antoine César Becquerel (1788–1878) and Henri Victor Régnault (1810–1878), and afterwards at Berlin in the laboratories of Heinrich Gustav Magnus (1802–1870), Johann Christian Poggendorff (1796–1877) and Heinrich Wilhelm Dove (1803–1879).
Alexander von Oettingen had six sons and three daughters with his wife Helena, including the notable Georg von Oettingen, Alexander von Oettingen, and Arthur von Oettingen.
The millioctave was introduced by the German physicist Arthur von Oettingen in his book Das duale Harmoniesystem (1913).
Arthur Conan Doyle | King Arthur | Johann Wolfgang von Goethe | Arthur Miller | Otto von Bismarck | Arthur C. Clarke | Arthur | Arthur Ransome | Alexander von Humboldt | Wernher von Braun | Port Arthur | Carl Maria von Weber | Herbert von Karajan | Chester A. Arthur | Arthur Balfour | Arthur Sullivan | Arthur Rubinstein | Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher | Arthur Andersen | Sir Arthur Conan Doyle | John von Neumann | Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn | Lars von Trier | Arthur Wellesley | Ferdinand von Mueller | Arthur Godfrey | Arthur Fiedler | Paul von Hindenburg | Arthur Schopenhauer | Arthur Honegger |