Leslie Gary Leal (born March 18, 1943) is the Warren & Katharine Schlinger Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara, United States.
Leal was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 1987 for fundamental contributions to the understanding of the fluid mechanics of particulate systems, polymer solutions, and suspensions.
Leal started his academic career in 1970 as an assistant professor in chemical engineering at California Institute of Technology.
In 1989, Leal joined University of California, Santa Barbara as professor and chair in the department of chemical engineering.
They have developed a scheme based on a finite difference approximation of the equations of motion, applied on a boundary-fitted orthogonal curvilinear coordinate system, inside and outside the drop.