Michael Riordan (born 3 December 1946) is an American physicist, science historian and author.
Riordan earned his doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1973. He worked at the University of Rochester, then moved to the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and concurrently held an adjunct professorship at the University of California, Santa Cruz.[1] While associated with SLAC, Riordan was elected a fellow of the American Physical Society and received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1999.[2][3] The American Institute of Physics honored Riordan with the 2002 Andrew Gemant Award.[4][5]