Wendell Meredith Stanley (August 16, 1904 - June 15, 1971) was an American biochemist, virologist and Nobel prize laureate.

He was born in Indiana. He studied at the University of Illinois, gaining a degree in science in 1927 and a PhD in chemistry two years later.

As a member of National Research Council he moved temporarily for academic work in Munich before he returned to the States in 1931. On return he was approved as an assistant at Rockefeller Institute, the post he held until 1948. He later became Professor of Biochemistry at University of California, Berkeley, and in 1918 Chairman of the Biochemistry Department.

Stanley's work contributed to knowledge on lepracidal compounds, diphenyl stereochemistry and the chemistry of the sterols. His researches on the virus causing the mosaic disease in tobacco plants led to the isolation of a nucleoprotein which displayed tobacco mosaic virus activity.

He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 1946. His other notable awards included the Rosenburger Medal, Alder Prize and Scott Award. He was also awarded honorary degrees by many universities both American and foreign, including Harvard, Yale, Princeton and the University of Paris.

Stanley married Marian Staples in 1929 and had three daughters (Marjorie, Dorothy and Janet), and a son, Wendell M. Junior.