William Richard Peltier (born 1943), is a university professor of physics at the University of Toronto. He is director of the Centre for Global Change Science, principal investigator of the Polar Climate Stability Network, and the Scientific Director of Canada's largest supercomputer centre, SciNet. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and of the American Geophysical Union.His research interests include: atmospheric and oceanic waves and turbulence, geophysical fluid dynamics, physics of the planetary interior, and planetary climate.In 2013 he was awarded the Izaak Walton Killam Award for his contribution to the field of natural sciences.