David S. Saxon (February 8, 1920 – December 8, 2005) was an American physicist and educator who served as the President of University of California system as well as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Corporation. Saxon was born in St. Paul, Minnesota. He attended MIT where he earned a B.S. degree in 1941 and Ph.D. in 1944, both in Physics. He worked in MIT's famed wartime Radiation Laboratory during World War II. Saxon joined the MIT Corporation in 1977 and held the office of Chairman between 1983 and 1990.