Perley Gilman Nutting (1873–1949) was an American optical physicist and the founder of the Optical Society of America (OSA). He served as its first president from 1916 to 1917. OSA is now known as Optica. Nutting moved from Kodak to Westinghouse Electric Company in 1917. In 1924 he returned to government work, moving to the United States Geological Survey where he remained until his retirement in 1943. He died August 8, 1949. Nutting's son, Perley G. Nutting Jr., was the tireless grad student known as observer PGN for the demonstration of the MacAdam ellipse.