Robert Bruce Merrifield (July 15, 1921–May 14, 2006) was an American biochemist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1984 for the invention of solid phase peptide synthesis.

In 1923 the family moved to California where he attended nine grade schools and two high schools before graduating from Montebello High School in 1939. It was there that he developed an interest both in chemistry and in astronomy.
After two years at Pasadena Junior College he transferred to the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). He returned to graduate school at the UCLA chemistry department with professor of biochemistry M.S.
After a long illness R. Bruce Merrifield died on May 14, 2006 at the age of 84 in his home in Cresskill, New Jersey.