Alexander Craig "Alec" Aitken FRS FRSE FRSL FRSNZ (1 April 1895 – 3 November 1967) was one of New Zealand's most eminent mathematicians.

He saw active service during World War I enlisting in April 1915 with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, and serving in Gallipoli from November 1915, in Egypt, and at the Western Front.

Aitken studied for a doctorate (PhD) at the University of Edinburgh, in Scotland, under Edmund Taylor Whittaker where his dissertation, "Smoothing of Data", was considered so impressive that he was awarded a DSc degree in 1925.

[11][3] Aitken's impact at the university had been so great that he had been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) the year before the award of his degree, upon the proposal of Sir Edmund Whittaker, Sir Charles Galton Darwin, Edward Copson and David Gibb.

Aitken was awarded the Makdougall-Brisbane Prize for 1930–32, and was active in the affairs of the RSE, serving as Councillor (1934–36), Secretary to Ordinary Meetings (1936–40), and vice-president (1948–51; 1956–59).

He was an accomplished writer, being elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL) in 1964 in response to the publication of his war memoirs, Gallipoli to the Somme.

[16][17] An annual "Aitken Prize" is awarded by the New Zealand Mathematical Society for the best student talk at their colloquium.