Coutts Trotter (1 August 1837 – 4 December 1887) was a British physicist and academic administrator, vice-master of Trinity College, Cambridge from 1885.
[1][2] He was educated at Harrow School, and matriculated at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1855, graduating B.A.
He then went to Heidelberg in the German Confederation to study experimental physics under Hermann von Helmholtz and Gustav Kirchhoff from 1865 to 1866.
After spending some further time in Italy, he returned to Trinity College, where in 1869 he was appointed lecturer in physical science, a post which he held until 1884.
[2][1] Settled in Cambridge, Trotter became an influential figure in university administrative affairs, in part because of a polymathic understanding of academic subjects.