Basedow was born in Dessau, Germany. He graduated from Halle University. He subsequently began general practice in Merseburg in 1822. He married early and became the town's chief medical officer, a position he would hold for the rest of his life. In 1840, Basedow reported on the conditions of what is now called Graves-Basedow disease. He died in Merseburg in 1854 after contracting spotted fever from a corpse he was dissecting.