Walter Hugo Stockmayer (April 7, 1914, in Rutherford, New Jersey – May 9, 2004, in Norwich, Vermont) was an internationally known chemist and university teacher.
His specific interest was in theory and experiment for the structure and dynamics of polymer molecules, including various uses of the light scattering method.
Stockmayer returned to MIT for Ph.D. research and pursued his study of statistical mechanics, which he later continued at Columbia University.
There, he worked primarily on copolymers in dilute solution, established the journal Macromolecules, and collaborated with many Japanese scientists.
Stockmayer is mentioned as a friend of the author in the novel Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut, and is described as a distinguished pianist and a good skier.