Robert J. Kolenkow was an American physicist and teacher. He is best known for being the coauthor, along with Daniel Kleppner, of a popular undergraduate physics textbook, An Introduction to Mechanics.
Kolenkow did his undergraduate work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, graduating in 1955. For a time, he was an associate professor of physics at MIT. His departure in 1971 generated some controversy on campus; he was regarded as an excellent teacher by his students, however, the administration was viewed as being more concerned about research than education when making its tenure decisions.
Kolenkow became a professor at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. He also co-authored a textbook on physical geography which was favorably reviewed.