Michele Parrinello (born 7 September 1945) is an Italian physicist particularly known for his work in molecular dynamics (the computer simulation of physical movements of atoms and molecules).

[3] They have continued to receive awards for this breakthrough, most recently the Dreyfus Prize in the Chemical Sciences[4] and the 2021 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Chemistry.

[5] Parrinello also co-authored highly cited publications on "polymorphic transitions in single crystals"[6] and "canonical sampling through velocity rescaling.

After working at the International School for Advanced Studies in Trieste, the IBM research laboratory in Zurich, and the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart, he was appointed Professor of Computational Science at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich in 2001, a position he also holds at the Università della Svizzera italiana in Lugano.

In Clarivate's annual list of citation laureates, Car and Parrinello have been selected as candidates for the 2024 chemistry Nobel prize.