Ronald Samuel Rivlin (6 May 1915 in London[1] – 4 October 2005) was a British-American physicist, mathematician, rheologist and a noted expert on rubber.

He studied physics and mathematics at St John's College, Cambridge, being awarded a BA in 1937 and a ScD in 1952.

[2][4] He worked for the General Electric Company, then the UK Ministry of Aircraft Production, then the British Rubber Producers Research Association, to which he was recruited to at the suggestion of L. R. G. Treloar by John Wilson, over a “lavish meal” and game of pool.

[7] He also made major contributions to the theory of non-Newtonian fluid flow, including in the Rivlin-Ericksen expansion.

[6][8] Rivlin was invited to speak in 1972 at the induction of Melvin Mooney into the International Rubber Science Hall of Fame.