Richard Maitland Laws CBE FRS (23 April 1926 – 7 October 2014) was Director of the British Antarctic Survey from 1973 to 1987; Master of St Edmund's College, Cambridge, from 1985 to 1996 and Secretary of the Zoological Society of London.

[3] Laws was born in Whitley Bay, Northumberland and educated at Dame Allan's School, Newcastle upon Tyne and St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he was an Open Scholar.

Protests led by David Sheldrick resulted in the denial of this request and the subsequent winding up Laws' research.

[2] Laws was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1980,[1] and was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).[when?

[8] On his retirement, a fund was established for a prize to be awarded in recognition of the achievements of outstanding young scientists of the Survey.