Ava Helen Pauling (December 24, 1903 – December 7, 1981) was an American human rights activist and wife of Nobel Prize winner Linus Pauling. Throughout her life, she was involved in various social movements including women's rights, racial equality, and international peace.

An avid New Dealer, Ava Helen Pauling was heavily interested in American politics and social reforms. She is credited with introducing Linus Pauling to the field of peace studies, for which he received the 1962 Nobel Peace Prize. Most prominent among the various causes she supported was the issue of ending nuclear proliferation. Ava Helen Pauling worked with her husband, advocating a stop to the production and use of nuclear arms. Their campaigning helped lead to the Limited Test Ban Treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union, effectively ending the above-ground testing of nuclear weapons.

Ava Helen Miller, the tenth of twelve children, was raised on a 160-acre (0.65 km²) farm outside Beavercreek, Oregon. Her father, George Miller, a school teacher, and her mother, Elnora Gard Miller, expressed socialist ideals and encouraged liberal thinking and discussion in the home. Linus Pauling explained, "Ava Helen had been interested in social, political and economic problems ever since she was a teenager. She used to argue with a friend of the family, one of the judges of the Oregon State Supreme Court. She had a general interest in science and was very able, very smart, but she was really concerned about human beings. The humanistic concern she had was very great."