Max Clifton Brewer (1924–2012) was an Arctic scientist, geophysicist, geological engineer, environmentalist, educator, and philosopher, and is best known for his expertise in the scientific field of permafrost.

[2] From 1971-1974 he served in the gubernatorial cabinet of William A. Egan as the first commissioner of the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation.

[3][4] Max Brewer worked alongside John F. Schindler and a number of Iñupiaq naturalist in NARL’s program on ice science.

He often credited a number of Iñupiat scientists such as Jacob Stalker, Kenneth Utuayuk Toovak, Pete Sovalik, and Harry Brower Sr., as his greatest teachers, and he relied heavily on traditional Iñupiat knowledge of the Arctic and the ice to assist NARL scientific projects.

[10] He served during World War II in the United States Army Air Force from October 1942 until his honorable discharge in April 1944.