Robert Moody Laughlin (May 29, 1934 – May 28, 2020) was an American anthropologist and linguist. He was a curator at the Smithsonian Institution.

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Laughlin's research focused on the indigenous Maya peoples of Chiapas, Mexico and the Tzotzil language. In 1975, he published The Great Tzotzil Dictionary of San Lorenzo Zinacantán, containing 30,000 entries.^[1] He also published works on other aspects of Tzotzil culture, such as folktales and ethnobotany, and helped to found a local writer's cooperative, Sna Jtz'ibajom, and a theatre troupe. His work is credited with helping to standardize how the Tzotzil language is written and with reviving interest in indigenous languages in the region.

Laughlin died from COVID-19 in Arlington, Virginia, one day short from his 86th birthday, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Virginia.