Abraham Vater (9 December 1684 – 18 November 1751) was a German anatomist from Wittenberg.

In 1719, Vater was the first to notice oval-shaped organs of concentric layers of connective tissue wrapped around nerve endings in the skin.

Apparently his research was forgotten, because in 1831 they were rediscovered by anatomist Filippo Pacini (1812–1883) when performing a dissection of a hand.

Pacini was the first to describe their functionality as mechanoreceptors that are sensitive to vibration and pressure changes, and thus the structures were to become known as Pacinian corpuscles.

Today, the term "Vater-Pacini corpuscles" is sometimes used to credit the discoveries of both men.