Benjamin Libet was born on April 12, 1916 in Chicago to Ukranian Jewish immigrants. He studied at the University of Chicago, where he received his doctoral degree in Physiology in 1939.

In 1949, Libet joined the faculty at UCSF, where he was a professor of physiology for nearly 50 years. In the 1970s, Libet's research focused on neural activity and sensation threshholds, but he eventually became interested in consciousness and the idea of free will. In the 1980s, he began conducting a series of experiments (later known as "the Libet experiments") into the nature and physiological origins of free will and the links between the conscious and unconscious aspects of action and awareness. He published the findings of his life's work in the 2004 book Mind Time - The Temporal Factor in Consciousness.

Libet's theories are still much debated and were influential in the study of human consciousness and neurophysiology. Libet died at the age of 91 in Davis, California on July 23, 2007.