Hazel Estella Barnes (December 16, 1915 – March 18, 2008) was an American philosopher, author, and translator.

[1] In recognition of her long tenure and service to the University, in 1991 CU established the Hazel Barnes Prize[2] for faculty who best embody "the enriching interrelationship between teaching and research."

Barnes recounts in her autobiography taking on the translation of Being and Nothingness unexpectedly.

Writing to the main American publisher of existentialist writers with a book proposal on the general topic, Barnes received a reply that included an invitation to engage in the translation.

"I was quite casual about it all", she writes, "[never asking myself] whether with only three years of badly taught high school French and one yearlong course in college, and a bare minimum of background in philosophy, I was qualified to do the task.