The Békésy Laboratory of Neurobiology was founded in 1966 as the Laboratory of Sensory Sciences when the late Nobel laureate Georg von Békésy was persuaded to leave Harvard University to take up an appointment as Research Professor at the University of Hawaii. The present building was designed and built under Dr. Békésy's supervision to provide facilities for research in basic neurobiology and psychophysics. Dr. Békésy established the unusually well-equipped machine shop and hired the Laboratory electronics technician, Hinano Akaka.
 
The Laboratory is a research program of the Pacific Biosciences Research Center.