Columbus O'Donnell Iselin

Columbus O'Donnell Iselin (1904–1971) was an American oceanographer. He was the director of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution from 1940 to 1950, and from 1956 to 1960. He was Professor of Physical Oceanography at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Early life Columbus O'Donnell Iselin was born on September 25, 1904, in New Rochelle, New York. His great-great-great-grandfather, Isaac Iselin, moved from Basel, Switzerland to the United States in 1801. where Henry Bryant Bigelow was one of his professors.

Iselin was the recipient of the Alexander Agassiz Medal in 1942. He received an honorary doctorate of science from Brown University in 1947.

Personal life Iselin married Eleanor Emmet Lapsley, daughter of John Willard Lapsley and his wife Eleanor Temple Emmet, on 19 January 1929 at St. Matthew's Church, Bedford Village, New York. They had two sons and three daughters.

Iselin died on January 5, 1971, in Falmouth, Massachusetts. His funeral took place in Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts on Martha's Vineyard.