Paul Siple was born in Montpelier, Ohio on December 18, 1908 to Clyde Lavonius Siple and Fannie Hope Allman. His family moved to Erie, Pennsylvania, where he graduated from Central High School in 1926. He became an Eagle Scout in 1923 with 59 merit badges. After an extensive nationwide search in 1928, he was the first Eagle Scout selected for an Antarctic expedition. Siple appeared in the documentary film With Byrd at the South Pole (1930). He became a brother of the Alpha Chi Rho fraternity while attending Allegheny College, in Meadville, Pennsylvania. He married Ruth Ida Johannesmeyer on December 19, 1936. He also attended Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, from which he received a Ph.D. in 1939. His dissertation was on “Adaptations of the Explorer to the Climate of Antarctic”. He worked in the Army Scientific Office for most of his career. Paul Siple was involved with the United States Antarctic Service Expedition of 1939–1941, which would have been the third Byrd expedition. He served during Operation Highjump, (also known as the United States Navy Antarctic Developments Program 1946–1947), developed cold weather gear for the Korean War, and Operation Deep Freeze I in 1955-1956. He was the inaugural scientific leader at the U.S. Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station 1956–1957, during the International Geophysical Year. This activity is covered in his fourth book.

From 1963–1966 he served as the first U.S. science attaché to Australia and New Zealand where he had a stroke in 1966 and returned to the United States. Paul Siple died on November 25, 1968 at the Army Research Center in Arlington, Virginia. Antarctic features Siple Coast, Siple Island, Mount Siple, Siple Ridge and Siple Station were named in his honor. Siple is noteworthy because he is one of a very few individuals to participate in all five of the Antarctic expeditions conducted by Richard E. Byrd.