Isaac Ginsburg (1886-1975) was born in Lithuania and came to the United States as a young boy. He studied ichthyology at Cornell University and after graduating was employed as an Aid in the Division of Fishes, United States National Museum, for a short time in 1917. In 1922, he received an appointment with the Bureau of Fisheries and worked there as a systematic ichthyologist until his retirement in 1956.

Ginsburg's chief scientific interest was the marine fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. His other duties at the Bureau of Fisheries included handling of the scientific correspondence concerning marine fishes, and war work in connection with the coordination of fisheries in 1943-1944..