William A. Lester, Jr. (born April 24, 1937) is an American chemist who is a professor of the graduate school at the University of California, Berkeley.

[3] With the support of a librarian from his high school, Lester secured a scholarship, which allowed him to attend the University of Chicago.

[2] He completed his bachelor's degree in chemistry, during which he secured a part-time research position in the Laboratory of Molecular Structure and Spectra.

[4] After graduating, Lester joined the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), where he spent three years as a physical chemist.

After working in Wisconsin for two years he attended an American Physical Society meeting in University of California, Berkeley, during which time he visited the IBM Research Lab.