Ernest Walter Lindstrom was born to E. A. and Mary (Tranell) Lindstrom in Chicago, Illinois, on February 5, 1891. He received his A.B. (1914) from the University of Wisconsin and his Ph.D. (1917) from Cornell University where he studied genetics under R. A. Emerson.

He served as a Lieutenant (1917-1919) in the Air Force in the 96th Bombardment Squadron. After the war, he accepted a position as Instructor (1919-1921) and then Assistant Professor (1921-1922) of genetics at the University of Wisconsin.

In 1922, Lindstrom came to Iowa State College (University) to establish a new Genetics Department in the Division of Agriculture. Lindstrom became Professor and Head (1922-1948) of the department. He later also served as Vice Dean (1936-1948) of the Graduate College. His primary research interests included studying inheritance and linkage relations in corn and tomato plants. His work resulted in the chromosome mapping of corn and new studies in tomato polyploidy.

While working at Iowa State Lindstrom was also able to devote energies to other organizations. Lindstrom served as a visiting professor (1944-1945) at the National University of Medellin, Columbia, South America, where he established a new Genetics Department. He was a charter member of the Genetics Society of America and served the Society as Secretary-Treasurer (1938-1940), Vice-President (1941), and President (1942). He was a member of the American Society of Naturalists, Botanical Society of America, American Genetic Association, Iowa Academy of Science, and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Lindstrom married A. Cornelia Anderson in August 1921 in Madison, Wisconsin. They had three children, Eugene, Cornelia, and Rosemary. He died November 8, 1948, at the College Hospital in Ames, Iowa, and is buried in Madison, Wisconsin.