Józef Mayer (21 May 1939 – 19 November 2016) was a Polish chemist, specializing in radiation chemistry, the Rector of Lodz University of Technology in 1996–2002.

Józef Mayer graduated from the Faculty of Chemistry of Lodz University of Technology (TUL), in 1961. In the same year he started work in the Department of Physical Chemistry. Józef Mayer presented his PhD thesis in 1968. In 1988 he became Associate Professor and in 1994 he received the title of Professor of TUL.

Mayer's research was focused on radiation chemistry and involved work on the matter of excited state and ion recombination admixtures in liquid hydrocarbons. He also did research on the process of reactivity transmission in solid polymers by means of impulse methods.

He wrote 110 articles and presented 120 reports and papers at conferences in Poland and abroad. He promoted four doctors. He was a member of "Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry" editorial committee, the Polish Chemical Society, the president of Polish Radiation Society in years 1989–1995. Józef Mayer was also a member of Miller Trust for Radiation, the Science Committee of Nuclear Institute in Warsaw, the Science Committee in Polish Academy of Science of Polymer Chemistry in Zabrze and the State Committee for Atomics, and also a member of the Department Committee of Polish Academy of Sciences in Łódź.

In years 1994-2007 Józef Mayer held the post of president of the Institute of Applied Radiation Chemistry of TUL. In years 1987-1990 he was Associate Dean and in 1990-1993 he was the Dean of the Faculty of Chemistry of TUL. Józef Mayer held a position of students' affairs dean in 1993–1996. He was the Rector of TUL in 1996–2002. He retired in 2008 and died on 19 November 2016.^[1]