Von Quenstedt was born at Eisleben in Saxony. He was educated at Humboldt University, Berlin. After a period as assistant in the mineralogical museum he was appointed professor of mineralogy and geognosy at the University of Tübingen in 1837, a post which he occupied until his death. His earlier work related chiefly to crystallography and mineralogy, on which subjects he published text-books that were widely used.
He became distinguished for his researches on palaeontology, and especially for those on the fossils of the Jurassic system. The museum at Tübingen owed its establishment to his exertions. He died at Tübingen.
His chief publications were:
Method der Krystallographie (1840)
Das Flözgebirge Wurttembergs (1843)
Petrefactenkunde Deutschlands (7 vols. and atlases, 1846-84)
Die Cephalopoden (1846-49)
Handbuch der Petrefactenkunde (2 vols., 1852, 3rd ed. 1882-85)
Quenstedt ist weit über den Kreis der Fachkollegen hinaus beliebt.
Der preußische konservative Kirchenpolitiker Friedrich Julius Stahl erlangt seit 1840 in Berlin wachsenden politischen und öffentlichen Einfluß unter anderem mit der Kreuzzeitung.
Von Robert von Mohl, der in dieser Zeit Professor der Rechte in Heidelberg und Mitglied der Ersten Badischen Kammer ist, erscheint bei Laupp seine Encyclopädie der Staatswissenschaften, die 1872 und 1881 neu aufgelegt wird.