Charles David White was born on July 1, 1862, in Palmyra, New York.

He was a geologist and paleobotanist. After teaching in rural schools for two years, he attended Cornell University (B.Sc., 1886). In 1889, he became a member of the U. S. Geological Survey and began his forty-nine-year research and administrative career with the organization, eventually becoming its chief geologist. In 1903, White became an associate curator of paleobotany at the Smithsonian Institution. He made one of the most comprehensive studies on the Glossopteris Flora, the main component of the fossil deposits of mineral coal in Brazil. White was involved in petroleum research and led a drive to estimate the nation’s oil reserves in Texas. He served as president of the Paleontological Society, the Washington Academy of Sciences, the Geological Society of Washington, and the Geological Society of America. He received an honorary degree of D.Sc. from the University of Rochester (1924), the University of Cincinnati (1924), and Williams College (1925). White won the Thompson Medal in 1931 and the Walcott Medal in 1934. He wrote numerous papers on geological and paleontological subjects. The David White House, his home for fifteen years, is a U.S. National Historic Landmark.

In 1888, he married Mary Elizabeth Houghton (1856–1936). He died on February 7, 1935, in Washington, D.C.