John P. Perdew (born August 30, 1943) is a theoretical condensed matter physicist known for his contributions to the fields of solid-state physics and quantum chemistry.

After showing an aptitude for mathematics in high school, Perdew received a National Merit Scholarship and attended Gettysburg College, where he developed his interest in physics.

Perdew was one of the early pioneers of density functional theory, helping it become accurate enough for calculations in quantum chemistry, materials science, and geoscience.

Perdew first presented this theory at the International Congress of Quantum Chemistry's DFT2000 symposium in June 2000, describing five generations of functionals in a sequence he called the Jacob's Ladder.

[9] John Perdew is one of the world's most cited physicists, with over 410,000 Google Scholar citations referring to his work in the field of density functional theory.

[11] John Perdew was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2011, and is one of 2,000 distinguished scientists from all fields that help advise the U.S. government on scientific policy.