Samuel Eliot Morison

Samuel Eliot Morison (1887-1976) was an American historian renowned for his authoritative works on maritime history and American history, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning biographies Admiral of the Ocean Sea (1942) on Christopher Columbus and John Paul Jones: A Sailor's Biography (1959), as well as the 15-volume History of United States Naval Operations in World War II (1947-1962). He earned his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1912 and taught there for 40 years, reaching the rank of Jonathan Trumbull Professor of American History, while also serving as a rear admiral in the U.S. Naval Reserve during World War II.