Donald E. Bently (October 18, 1924 – October 1, 2012) was a globally recognized authority on rotor dynamics and vibration monitoring and diagnostics, and an American entrepreneur, engineer, and philanthropist. He founded Bently Nevada Corporation in October, 1961, where he performed pioneering work in the field of instrumentation for measuring the mechanical condition of rotating machinery. He designed the first commercially successful eddy current proximity transducer. It became the de facto standard when the American Petroleum Institute adopted the proximity probe as the device for measuring acceptable shaft vibration during factory acceptance testing of centrifugal compressors.