Paul Alwin Mittasch (sorbian: Pawoł Alwin Mitaš) (born 27 December 1869 in Großdehsa/Dažin, today to Löbau, Germany; died 4 June 1953 in Heidelberg, West Germany) was a German chemist and scientific historian of Sorbian descent.

In spite of full-time employment as a teacher he finished this after one and a half years with summa cum laude.

After he entered by the untimely death of his oldest son Heinz Mittasch in 1932 early into the retirement, he resettled to Heidelberg and devoted himself to writing, music, and gardening.

However, after only one year he changed on recommendation of his university supervisor to the BASF where he took up his activity as an assistant to Carl Bosch.

[2] The found catalyst (iron (II/III) oxide Fe3O4, K2O, CaO, Al2O3 and SiO2) allowed the large-scale technical ammoniated synthesis and is still in use, nearly unchanged, to this day.

For his knowledge and his engagement he received numerous honours for his works, including the honorary doctorate from the universities TH Munich and LwH Berlin, as well as an appointment as professor by the government of Baden-Wurttemberg.

After retiring from his career as a chemist, he wrote a lot about the history of chemistry as well as about the philosophy of the natural sciences, for which he received recognition from high-ranking people such as Theodor Heuss.