Colin Bull was born in Birmingham in 1928. Spending his formative years near Hereford, he went onto gain a degree in Physics from the University of Birmingham and PHD in solid state physics. Throughout his career Bull participated, and went onto organise, many scientific expeditions to the polar regions. One of these was the pioneering British North Greenland Expedition of 1952 to 1954 in which Bull participated as a geophysicist, part of a team of over 20 who undertook ground-breaking research in areas including geology, gravimetry, seismology, physiology and the logistics of large scale polar exploration.

After returning from Greenland Bull married Diana Gillian Garrett in 1954 and later accepted a position at the University of Wellington in New Zealand where he would lead a successful Antarctic expedition in 1958-1959 and a further expedition to Greenland in 1960-1961. Later in 1961 Bull accepted a position at Ohio State University where he taught glaciology, with successive promotions becoming the Dean of the College of Mathematical and Physical Sciences. He also participated on several committees including spending time as Chairman of the Glaciology panel of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, and on the Polar Research Board and the Council on Polar Research. Bull retired in 1986 and spent time travelling and trading books about the polar regions. He died in 2010.