Neil William Ashcroft (27 November 1938 – 15 March 2021) was a British solid-state physicist.

[3] He was educated at Hutt Valley High School, and completed his undergraduate studies at Victoria University College,[3] earning a Bachelor of Science degree, in 1958.

He received his PhD in 1964 from the University of Cambridge for research investigating the Fermi surfaces of metals.

In 1990 he was named the Horace White Professor of Physics, and was elected to emeritus status in 2006.

His textbook on solid-state physics, written with N. David Mermin, is a standard text in the field.