Lieutenant Colonel William Arthur Prowse OBE TD (1907– 14 July 1981)^[1] was a British physicist and academic administrator. He was the founding Master of Van Mildert College, Durham.^[2]

Prowse matriculated at Hatfield College, Durham and graduated with a degree in Physics from Durham University in 1927. He completed his doctorate at the same institution in 1931 – this time, per the conditions of the Pemberton Studentship, as a member of University College.^[3] Except for a brief period of secondment under Willis Jackson at Imperial College, London from 1947 to 1948, he spent his entire academic career in Durham.^[3] He served as Vice-Master of University College from 1953 to 1965.^[3]

Active in the Officers' Training Corps, in 1966 he was awarded the O.B.E. He retired to Brancepeth in 1972.^[1]