Joseph Edward Mayer (born 5.02.1904) is an American theoretical physicist and chemist and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He was born in New York. He graduated from the California Institute of Technology (1924). In 1927-28 he worked at the University of California, in 1929—30 at the University of Göttingen, in 1930 —39 at Johns Hopkins University and in 1939—45 at Columbia University; in 1945 — 60 he was professor at the E. Fermi Institute for Nuclear Studies of the University of Chicago and in 1960 —73 at the University of California (La Jolla).
His work was in the field of statistical physics, thermodynamics, quantum mechanics and chemical physics. He is one of the creators of the modern theory of non-ideal gases; in particular, in 1937 he obtained the general equation of state of a real gas. He introduced diagrammatic methods into statistical mechanics. He contributed to the development of the formal theory of liquids.
In 1973 he was president of the American Physical Society. The G. Lewis (1958), P. Debye (1967) and J. Kirkwood (1968) medals and others.