Melvin Lorrel "Pete" Nichols (November 30, 1894 – March 29, 1981) was an American chemistry professor and author.
His thesis was “Dinitrosoresorcinol as a reagent for the quantitative determination of cobalt in the presence of nickel and other metals of the third group”.
Nichols was on the faculty at Cornell University from 1923 to 1962, rising to become Emeritus Professor of Chemistry.
“Pete” Nichols' wrote two textbooks on analytical chemistry, Gas Analysis, co-authored with L.M.
In 1950, Pete Nichols agreed to become executive director of Cornell's Chemistry Department, a new position which involved supervision of the support facilities and the non-academic staff of what had become a large and complex establishment.