John Michael Maisch (January 30, 1831 – September 10, 1893) was a United States pharmacist, the "father of adequate pharmaceutical legislation."

[3] One of his teachers introduced him to the study of mineralogy and microscopy, and he did practical fieldwork in the Hanau vicinity.

He was at first inclined toward theology, but an increasing interest in natural science led him to devote himself to scientific studies.

[4] He joined the military service of Hesse and imbibed the revolutionary ideas circulating among the soldiers at that time.

Feeling the inconsistency of his situation, he left the military for the Turners and joined them in promulgating revolutionary ideas in the Main River valley.

This resulted in him being arrested in Sinsheim and sentenced to four and a half years imprisonment at hard labor.

In Philadelphia, one of his employers was Robert Shoemaker, a pioneer wholesale druggist and manufacturing pharmacist.

In 1863, at the height of the American Civil War, he organized and was chief chemist of the U. S. Army laboratory in Philadelphia at Sixth and Oxford Streets.

He was very active in the American Pharmaceutical Association, and its permanent secretary from 1865 until his death,[3] having charge of the editing of its annual volume of proceedings.

[3] His original investigations in technical pharmacy were numerous, and treated improved processes of analysis, botanical methods, and chemical researches.