John E. Osborn (July 12, 1936 – May 30, 2011)[1] was an American mathematician.

Osborn made fundamental contributions to computational mathematics, especially to the theory of numerical solution of partial differential equations, eigenvalue approximations, and the finite element method.

He also co-authored several textbooks on differential equations and numerical computation with the goal of introducing computation into sophomore level differential equations courses.

Osborn held a faculty position at the University of Maryland, College Park his entire career, from 1965 until retiring in 2008.

He was a frequent collaborator and coauthor of Ivo Babuška.