Charles Henry Gilbert (December 5, 1859 in Rockford, Illinois – April 20, 1928 in Palo Alto, California) was a pioneer ichthyologist and fishery biologist of particular significance to natural history of the western United States.

Born in Rockford, Illinois, Gilbert spent his early years in Indianapolis, Indiana, where he came under the influence of his high school teacher, David Starr Jordan (1851‒1931).

Jordan took leave of absence from Indiana University, chose Gilbert as his assistant, and headed west to San Francisco in December 1879.

[3][9] By the time Gilbert received his doctoral degree at the age of 24, he was the author or co-author (mostly with Jordan) of over 80 scientific publications.

Gilbert served at Indiana University from 1880‒1884, first as instructor, then as Assistant Professor in Natural Sciences and Modern Languages.

[2] Around 1909, Gilbert turned his attention to the study of Pacific salmon and soon became the foremost expert on these economically important fish.

His world view was far ahead of his time and he urged the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries to instigate data collection programs for Alaska salmon.

He supervised the graduate studies of several ichthyologists and fishery biologists who became notable in their field, among them William Francis Thompson (1888‒1965) and Carl Leavitt Hubbs (1894‒1979).

[1][2][7][8] Gilbert died in 1928 at the age of 68, but he is remembered and honored by ichthyologists and fishery biologists around the world for his many contributions.

A United States Fish and Wildlife Service fisheries research vessel in commission from 1952 to 1973 was named US FWS Charles H. Gilbert[14] and a building at Stanford University is named the Charles H. Gilbert Biological Sciences Building.