Edward Nairne (1726 - September 1, 1806) was English optician and scientific instrument maker. He patented several electrical machines, including an electrostatic generator consisting of a glass cylinder mounted on glass insulators; the device can supply either positive or negative electricity, and was intended for medicinal use. He was a regular contributor to the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, and was elected a fellow in 1776. He enjoyed an extensive international reputation, and was in correspondence with Benjamin Franklin for whom he made a set of magnets and a telescope around 1758. Nairne prepared neatly-fitted traveling cases for lecture on electricity.