Pellegrino, the son of John and Jane Pellegrino, was born in 1953 in New York, New York.

He obtained his bachelor's and master's degrees at Long Island University in the mid-1970s and claims to have received a Ph.D. at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand in 1982. This claim has since been determined to be false.

Pellegrino's website states that he has taught at Hofstra University and Adelphi University's Center for Creative Arts. It also says he has served as a member of the Space Studies Institute and as a space-flight consultant at the Cradle of Aviation Museum.

He travelled with Robert Ballard to the Galapagos Rift after Ballard's discovery of the R.M.S. Titanic (in 1985).

Using archaeological evidence found on the once volcanic island of Thera in the Cyclades, Pellegrino developed a theory to explain the embellished story of Plato's "Atlantis". Finding flush toilets, elegant frescoes preserved by pumice fallout from the Theran volcanic eruption and multi-story buildings of superb construction, he was able to decipher the significance of the rise and fall of Minoan culture to the compelling mythical event that has captivated the imaginations of fiction authors and artists for decades.

In his book Unearthing Atlantis, Pellegrino introduces the tragic tale of Atlantis, once a flourishing empire under the rule of King Minos (of the Minotaur) on the islands of Thera and Crete, within the Aegean and Mediterranean seas. According to Plato, the civilization grew to extraordinary heights. Achieving such innovations as hot and cold running water, aqueducts, and even flush toilets, this thriving civilization was nearly 3,000 years ahead of its time. The Minoans used natural ports to develop a successful navy and purportedly traveled as far as present-day England. But water and fire (volcano)— the same natural elements that allowed them to evolve to such an extent...eventually lead to their decline. The Great Thera eruption of 1628 BC blew fifty cubic miles of rock into the atmosphere, it is believed, with a noise so violent it has yet to be matched in magnitude, even at Hiroshima and Vesuvius.

The death cloud released by such a catastrophic event covered the entire globe, with evidence of its arrival in China, America and Asia. The cloud itself credited also with the Plagues of Egypt seemed to have a great impact on ancient history from the moment it formed. Pellegrino discussed the effect of the Theran ash cloud in the History Channel Special "Exodus Decoded."

Last Train from Hiroshima

In January 2010, Henry Holt published Pellegrino's Last Train from Hiroshima, a look at the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima from the vantage of survivors.

The New York Times initially praised the book as "sober and authoritative" and as a "firm and compelling synthesis of earlier memoirs and archival material". However, a month later the New York Times reported on allegedly false historical data found in Pellegrino's book. As the New York Times stated, Pelligrino's book:

claims to reveal a secret accident with the atom bomb that killed one American and irradiated others and greatly reduced the weapon’s destructive power There is just one problem. That section of the book and other technical details of the mission are based on the recollections of Joseph Fuoco, who is described as a last-minute substitute on one of the two observation planes that escorted the ''Enola Gay'' But Mr. Fuoco never flew on the bombing run, and he never substituted for James R. Corliss, the plane’s regular flight engineer, Mr. Corliss’s family says. They, along with angry ranks of scientists, historians and veterans, are denouncing the book and calling Mr. Fuoco an impostor."

In addition to the issues covered by The New York Times, veterans of the 509th Operations Group, the Air Force unit which dropped the atomic bombs, issued a detailed list of substantive problems with many of the book's claims about the bomb and the Air Force personnel involved.

The New York Times added, "Facing a national outcry and the Corliss family’s evidence, the author, Charles Pellegrino, now concedes that he was probably duped. . . . [H]e said he would rewrite sections of the book for paperback and foreign editions." Despite Pellegrino's claim in The New York Times that he had been "duped" by Fuoco, further investigation revealed that Pellegrino had repeatedly mentioned one of the book's most disputed claims (a supposed fatal accident at Tinian Island on 4 August 1945) before Mr. Fuoco had allegedly confided it for him.

On 1 March 2010, Henry Holt announced that it had halted publication of Last Train from Hiroshima as more questions arose about the veracity of the material. In particular, doubts arose about the existence of two westerners allegedly present in Hiroshima at the time of the bombing. The New York Times also reported, "[T]he publisher also had questions about Mr. Pellegrino’s doctorate," noting, "Mr. Pellegrino said that the Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand . . . had stripped him of his Ph.D. because of a disagreement over evolutionary theory. . . . But Barbara Marriott, the employment relations manager for Victoria said in an e-mail message that Mr. Pellegrino did not have a Ph.D. from the university. She said the university was investigating the situation." Days later the University stated that it had not issued a doctorate to Pellegrino.

Doctoral degree

Doubts about Pellegrino's doctoral degree were initially investigated by a blogger. When asked, Pellegrino's purported university responded to the blogger, "Although [Pellegrino] did do some PhD study, we can’t find any record of him actually completing or graduating." Working in collaboration with an Air Force veterans organization, the blogger then contacted a host of media organizations with the information. After this initial revelation, university spokespersons reiterated to the Associated Press, The Weekly Standard, and The New York Times that Mr. Pellegrino did not have a Ph.D. from Victoria University.

In response, Mr. Pellegrino stated that the university had "stripped him of his Ph.D. because of a disagreement over evolutionary theory". The university told The New York Times and other news outlets that they were conducting an investigation into the matter. On 5 March, The New York Times stated:

In an e-mailed statement, Professor Pat Walsh, vice chancellor of Victoria University of Wellington, confirmed that Mr. Pellegrino had been a Ph.D. student in the 1980s.

“He submitted a thesis which in the unanimous opinion of the examiners was not of a sufficient standard for a Ph.D. to be awarded,” Mr. Walsh said. “Following complaints from Pellegrino, an investigation was carried out by the University. In 1986, Pellegrino appealed to Her Majesty the Queen. The case was then considered by the Governor-General who disallowed the appeal. Accordingly, Pellegrino was never awarded a Ph.D. from Victoria and therefore could not have had it stripped from him or reinstated at a later date.”

Non-Fiction

• The Survivors Look Back (Henry Holt, 2010)
• The Discovery, the Investigation, and the Evidence That Could Change History (with Simcha Jacobovici, 2007)
• A New Look at the Last Days of Pompeii, How Towers Fall, and Other Strange Connections (2004)
• Ghosts of the Titanic (2000)
• Bible Stories from Archaeologists (1994)
• An Archaeological Odyssey (1991)
• Untold Story of the Sinking and Finding of the Unsinkable Ship (1988)
• The Hidden Epidemic (with Jesse A. Stoff, 1988)
• The Untold Story Behind the Race to the Moon (with Joshua Stoff, 1985)
• Hurtling Backward Through History (1983)
• Origins and Crises in the History of Life (with Jesse A. Stoff, 1983)
• Interstellar Travel and Communication (with James Powell and Isaac Asimov, et al., 1986)

Fiction

• Dyson Sphere (with George Zebrowski, 1999)
• Dust (1998)
• The Killing Star (with George Zebrowski, 1995)
• Flying to Valhalla (1993)
• The Fallen Sky (1982)

• Lost Civilizations: Aegean - Legacy of Atlantis - Time-Life / NBC (1995). `Lost Civilizations' Uses Modern Ways To Tell Ancient Tales - Chicago Sun-Times | Encyclopedia.com

Re-released on October 1, 2002 as part of a 4-DVD set entitled Time Life's Lost Civilizations.

• Ghosts of the Abyss. With James Cameron (2003).
• Naked Science: Atlantis - National Geographic Channel (2004).
• Aliens of the Deep. With James Cameron (2005).
• The Naked Archaeologist: Joshua - History Channel. Hosted by Simcha Jacobovici (2006).
• American Vesuvius - History Channel (2006).
• Secrets of the Bible - National Geographic Channel (2006).
• The Exodus Decoded - History Channel. With Simcha Jacobovici and James Cameron (2006).
• The Lost Tomb of Jesus - Discovery Channel. With Simcha Jacobovici (2007).
• Three Ground Zeros, A Thousand Paper Cranes (2008)
• A Jewish Home in Pompeii (History Channel, 2009)
• The Last Train From Hiroshima (Japan T.V., 2009)