Bechyně studied at the University of Prague, graduating in 1948 with a thesis titled "Příspěvek k poznání filogenese a zoogeography rodu Tymarcha Latr" (on the phylogeny and zoogeography of the genus Tymarcha Latr). He emigrated from the Czech Republic (then Czechoslovakia) in 1948 and never subsequently returned.[2]
He worked in natural history museums in Munich and at the Museum of Natural Sciences in Brussels before moving to Los Angeles and later South America, where he researched in Brazil, San Salvador, and Peru before gaining a professorial post at the University of Maracay in Venezuela.[3]
His wife, Bohumila Špringlová, shared his interest in entomology and continued to represent Jan at entomological conferences after his death.[4]
The beetle species Clinidium bechyneorum is named for Jan and B. Bechyne, noting that their "fine series of Clinidium have made the Rhysodine fauna of Venezuela the best known of any South American country."[5]
