Robert William Paul (3 October 1869 – 28 March 1943) was an English pioneer of film and scientific instrument maker.

He made narrative films as early as April 1895. Those films were shown first in Edison Kinescope knockoffs. In 1896 he showed them projected. That was about the time the Lumière brothers were pioneering projected films in France.

His first notably successful scientic device was his Unipivot galvanometer.

In 1999 the British film industry erected a commemorative plaque on his building at 44 Hatton Garden, London.