Georg Wittig (June 16, 1897 – August 26, 1987) was a German chemist who reported a method for synthesis of alkenes from aldehydes and ketones using compounds called phosphonium ylides in the Wittig reaction. He shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Herbert C. Brown in 1979.

He attended school in Kassel and started studying chemistry at the University of Tübingen 1916.
After being an English prisoner of war from 1918 till 1919 the restart of his chemistry studies was complicated, due to the overcrowded universities. After 3 years he was rewarded his PhD in organic chemistry.
1944 Wittig succeeded the head of the organic department Wilhelm Schlenk at the University of Tübingen.
He worked at the University of Heidelberg even after his emeritation in 1967 and published papers until 1980. Most of his awards were presented in the time in Heidelberg, such as the honorary doctor of the Sorbonne in 1956 and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1979.
Wittig's contributions also include the preparation of phenyllithium and the discovery of the 1,2-Wittig rearrangement and the 2,3-Wittig rearrangement.