Charles Chapman Pugh (born June 16, 1940) is an American mathematician who researches dynamical systems.

Pugh received his PhD under Philip Hartman of Johns Hopkins University in 1965, with the dissertation The Closing Lemma for Dimensions Two and Three.

In 1967, he published a closing lemma named after him in the theory of dynamical systems.

[2][3] The lemma states: Let f be a diffeomorphism of a compact manifold with a nonwandering point x.

In 1970, he was an invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Nice, delivering a talk on Invariant Manifolds.