John Barnabas (1929–1994) was an Indian evolutionary biologist, known for his contributions in the fields of and Evolution. He was a member of the Science Advisory Committee to the cabinet as well as the Department of Biotechnology of the Government of India. A Jawaharlal Nehru Fellow, Barnabas was also an elected fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Indian National Science Academy and the National Academy of Sciences, India. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 1974, for his contributions to biological sciences.