Adrian John Desmond (born 1947) is an English writer on the history of science. He studied physiology at University College, London, and went on to study history of science and vertebrate palaeontology at University College London before researching the history of vertebrate palaeontology at Harvard University, under Stephen Jay Gould. He was awarded a PhD in the area of the Victorian-period context of Darwinian evolution. Desmond is an Honorary Research Fellow in the Biology Department at University College London.