Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin was born on September 25, 1843, in Mattoon, Illinois.

He was an American geologist and educator. He attended Beloit College, where he received a classical education in Greek and Latin while becoming interested in natural science. He studied geology at the University of Michigan (1868-1869) and became a professor of natural sciences at Whitewater Normal School in Wisconsin. He joined the Beloit faculty in 1873, where he was a professor of geology, zoology, and botany. He participated in a comprehensive geological survey of Wisconsin and became an assistant state geologist with the newly formed Wisconsin Geological Survey. In 1876, he was appointed chief geologist. The four-volume survey report “Geology of Wisconsin" (1877–1883) reflects his deep interest in the glacial deposits of the state as well as in the ancient coral reefs. In 1881, he was appointed geologist in charge of the glacier division of the U.S. Geological Survey, and in 1887, he became president of the University of Wisconsin, Madison. In 1892, he accepted the chairmanship of the geology department of the University of Chicago. In 1894, he was a geologist for the Peary Relief Expedition in Greenland. He also established The Journal of Geology. From 1898 to 1914 he was president of the Chicago Academy of Sciences. In 1899, he wrote "An Attempt to Frame a Working Hypothesis of the Cause of Glacial Periods on an Atmospheric Basis" and developed the idea that changes in climate could result from changes in the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Chamberlin was awarded the inaugural Penrose Gold Medal of the Society of Economic Geologists in 1924 and the inaugural Penrose Medal of the Geological Society of America in 1927. In 1928, together with the U.S. astronomer Forest R. Moulton, they published “The Two Solar Families” where they shaped the planetesimal hypothesis of the Earth's foundation.

In 1867, he married Alma Isabel Wilson (1847–1923). He died on November 14, 1928, in Chicago, Illinois.