Kenneth Sanborn Pitzer was an Americanphysical and theoretical chemist, educator, and university president. He was described as "one of the most in?uential physical chemists of his era" whose work "spanned almost all of the important ?elds of physical chemistry: thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, molecular structure, quantum mechanics, spectroscopy, chemical bonding, relativistic chemical effects, properties of concentrated aqueous salt solutions, kinetics, and conformational analysis." Kenneth S. Pitzer was born in Pomona, California, in 1914.

He received his B.S. in 1935 from the California Institute of Technology and his Ph.D.from the University of California, Berkeley in 1937. Upon graduation, he was appointed to the faculty of UC Berkeley's Chemistry Department and was eventually elevated to professor. During his long career he won many awards, most notably the National Medal of Science and the Priestley Medal.