Charles Beebe was an American naturalist and explorer who served as Curator of Ornithology (1899–1919) at the New York Zoological Gardens and Director of Tropical Research (1919–1952) at the New York Zoological Society. He led explorations in Central and South America, the West Indies, and the Orient. He also made undersea descents of 1,000 meters (3,300 feet) in his invention, the bathysphere. His numerous books include Galapagos (1923) and Beneath Tropic Seas (1928).