Professor Sir Kerr Grant (1878–1967) was an Australian physicist and a significant figure in higher education administration in South Australia in the first half of the twentieth century.

He was appointed chairman of the Scientific (physics) Manpower Advisory Committee, controller of the Adelaide branch of the Army Inventions Directorate, a member and later chairman of the Optical Munitions Panel (of the Ordnance Production Directorate), and a member of the physical and meteorological sub-committee of the Chemical Defence Board.

[3] While he never considered himself an outstanding physicist, Grant's work during the war and in teaching and administration led to the award of a knighthood in the 1947 New Year Honours.

He was involved in the popularisation of science through a newspaper column answering reader questions on scientific matters and was seen by some as an archetypal absent minded professor, a portrayal which he greatly enjoyed.

[4] His final lecture on his retirement in 1948 was attended by around 700 past and present students, and was the rowdiest "rag" honouring a departing professor in the history of the University.