James Cronin

James Watson Cronin (1931–2016) was an American physicist and university teacher specializing in nuclear and particle physics. Born in Chicago, he received his education at Southern Methodist University and the University of Chicago, where Samuel King Allison served as his doctoral advisor. Throughout his career, he was employed by the University of Chicago, the Collège de France, the University of Utah, and Princeton University.

Cronin was a member of the Royal Society, the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He received the Nobel Prize in Physics, the National Medal of Science, the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He died in Saint Paul in 2016.