Carolyn Beatrice Parker (November 18, 1917 – March 17, 1966) was a physicist who worked from 1943 to 1947 on the Dayton Project, the plutonium research and development arm of the Manhattan Project. She was one of a small number of African American scientists and technicians on the Manhattan Project. She then became an assistant professor in physics at Fisk University. Parker is the first African-American woman known to have gained a postgraduate degree in physics.