Donald Trauger (1920-2008) was an American physicist.
Born in Nebraska, Trauger attended Nebraska Wesleyan University before he accepted an assistantship position at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. Trauger became involved in the Manhattan Project at Columbia University when Dr. John Dunning called the Institute to ask if there was a person there who could work on a secret defense project and he was recommended. He worked on isotope separation, specifically the gaseous diffusion process.
In 1946, Trauger moved to Oak Ridge to work on the K-25 gaseous diffusion plant, which he did for eight years. He then joined the staff of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where he remained for the rest of his career. Trauger was the author of the book Horse Power to Nuclear Power: Memoir of an Energy Pioneer.