Derek Richter (14 January 1907 – 15 December 1995), English neuroscientist, was one of the founding fathers of the science of brain chemistry.

Identifying monoamine oxidase and demonstrating its function in the brain early in his career, he became a prime mover in his field.

[4] From Oundle School he won a scholarship to Magdalen College, Oxford, where he gained a first-class honour's degree in chemistry.

Married to Beryl Ailsa Griffiths, with whom he had three children, he set up a wartime research laboratory for treating shell-shock in the Mill Hill Emergency Hospital.

With Linford Rees, he carried out early work on biochemical changes concerning epilepsy and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and collaborated with W. Grey-Walter in EEG studies.

He continued to write and edit enlightened books, gardened passionately and joined his second wife, Molly Bullock, in establishing South Lodge, a refuge in Epsom for discharged mental patients.