Claire Ellen Max (born September 29, 1946[1]) is a Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) and is affiliated with the Lick Observatory.

Following postdoctoral work at the University of California, Berkeley, Max joined the scientific staff of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in 1974, working on problems in plasma physics relating to fusion technology.

[4] This work began at the JASON Defense Advisory Group, which she joined in 1983 as its first female member.

[5] With her colleagues in JASON, she developed the idea of using an artificial laser guide star to correct astronomical images.

In addition to continuing to develop this technology at the Center for Adaptive Optics,[6] she uses adaptive optics to study active galactic nuclei as well as planets in the Solar System.