Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing (August 14, 1840 – December 22, 1902) was an Austro-German sexologist and psychiatrist. He wrote Psychopathia Sexualis (1886), a famous series of case studies of sexual perversity. The book remains well known for his coinage of the terms sadism (from the Marquis de Sade) and masochism (from the name of writer Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, whose partly autobiographical novel Venus in Furs tells of the protagonist's desire to be whipped and enslaved by a beautiful woman).

Baron von Krafft-Ebing was born in Mannheim, Baden, Germany. He was educated in Heidelberg and studied medicine at the University of Heidelberg.

After graduating in medicine and finished his specialization in psychiatry, Krafft-Ebing worked in several asylums. However, he soon grew disappointed with their workings and he decided to pursue a more academic vocation. He subsequently became a professor at Strasbourg, Graz, and Vienna, and a forensic expert at the Austro-Hungarian capital. He popularized psychiatry, giving public lectures on the subject and theatrical demonstrations of the power of hypnotism.