Jesse Douglas (July 3, 1897 – September 7, 1965) was an American mathematician and Fields Medalist known for his general solution to Plateau's problem.

He was born to a Jewish family[1] in New York City, the son of Sarah (née Kommel) and Louis Douglas.

He then moved to Columbia University as a graduate student, obtaining a PhD in mathematics in 1920.

He was honored for solving, in 1930, the problem of Plateau, which asks whether a minimal surface exists for a given boundary.

Douglas also made significant contributions to the inverse problem of the calculus of variations.