Donald L. Shell (born March 1, 1924) is a retired American computer scientist who designed the Shell sort sorting algorithm. He acquired his Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Cincinnati in 1959, after publishing the shell sort algorithm in the Communications of the ACM in July the same year.After acquiring the B.S. from Michigan Technological University, he went into the Army Corps of Engineers, and from there to the Philippines to help repair damages during World War II.