Sir Clifford Charles Butler FRS[1] (20 May 1922 – 30 June 1999) was an English physicist, best known for the discovery of the hyperon and meson types of particles.

In later life, Butler was involved in educational policy, serving as director of the Nuffield Foundation and vice-chancellor of Loughborough University.

In order to increase the rate of detection with a higher flux of cosmic rays, the equipment was moved to the Pic du Midi de Bigorre observatory in the Pyrenees.

While at Imperial College London, Butler chaired the consortium established to design the British National Hydrogen Bubble Chamber, which was operated at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and CERN.

During his time there he set up a group for research and innovation in higher education, a programme for law and society, and the centre for agricultural strategy at the University of Reading.