Richard Böhm was the son of Ludwig Böhm and Franziska Louise, born Meyerlinck. He studied zoology at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena with Ernst Haeckel (1834–1919) and attained a doctorate in 1877. Afterwards he went on an expedition to Africa exploring Zanzibar and then, in East Africa, the east bank of Lake Tanganyika and the southeast of Lake Upemba, which he discovered (1880–1884). His correspondence appeared in 1888 under the title Ostafrika, Sansibar und Tanganjika heraus: Von Sansibar zum Tanganjika, Briefe aus Ostafrika von Dr. Richard Böhm (J. A. Brockhaus, Leipzig 1888 Ed. Herman Schalow). Böhm wrote numerous articles in the Journal of Ornithology from 1882 to 1887. He died of an attack of malaria. Anton Reichenow (1847–1941) and Herman Schalow (1852–1925) dedicated bird species to him.
- Merops boehmi (Reichenow 1882)
- Sarothrura boehmi (Reichenow 1900)
- Neafrapus boehmi (Schalow 1882)
- Muscicapa boehmi (Reichenow 1884).
- Bo Beolens und Michael Watkins: Whose Bird? Common Bird Names and the People They Commemorate. Yale University Press (New Haven und London). 2003
- Allen G. Debus (Hrsg.): World Who's Who in Science. A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Scientists from Antiquity to the Present. Marquis-Who's Who (Chicago) XVI + 1855 S. 1968