John Roy Whinnery (July 26, 1916 – February 1, 2009) was an American electrical engineer and educator who worked in the fields of microwave theory and laser experimentation.

degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1937, and the Ph.D. from the same institution in 1948.

Throughout World War II, he was active in war training classes, held a part-time lectureship at Union College(1945–46), and earned his doctoral degree while working 6 days a week in microwaves at General Electric, Schenectady, New York, working on problems in waveguide discontinuities, microwave tubes, and applications to radar.

On leave from the University, he acted as head of the Microwave Tube Research Section of the Hughes Aircraft Company (1951–52), engaged in research in quantum electronics at the Bell Laboratories, Inc., Murray Hill, New Jersey (1963–64) and held Visiting Professorship at the University of California, Santa Cruz and Stanford University.

In 1985 he was awarded the IEEE Medal of Honor "For seminal contributions to the understanding and application of electromagnetic fields and waves to microwave, laser, and optical devices" and in 1992 he received the National Medal of Science.