Titus Pankey (November 20, 1925 – September 20, 2003) was an American physicist and professor whose research specialties were magnetic susceptibility and cosmology, especially supernovas. He was the first recipient of a PhD in physics from Howard University, and was one of the first 10 black recipients of a PhD in physics in the United States. He has been cited as the first to suggest that type 1a supernovae are powered by nickel-56 decay.