john stewart waugh (april 25, 1929 – august 22, 2014) was an american chemist and educator. he was an institute professor at the massachusetts institute of technology (mit). he is known for making normal hamiltonian theory and using it to extend nmr spectroscopy, before only limited to liquids, to the solid state. in 1974, he was elected as a member in the chemistry section of the national academy of sciences (nas). in 1983, he was awarded wolf prize in chemistry with herbert s. gutowsky and harden m. mcconnell.