Edward Charles Pickering (July 19, 1846 – February 3, 1919) was an American astronomer and physicist, brother of William Henry Pickering.

Along with Carl Vogel, Pickering discovered the first spectroscopic binary stars. He wrote Elements of Physical Manipulations (2 vol., 1873 – 76).

Pickering attended Boston Latin School, and received his B.S. from Harvard in 1865. Later, he served as director of Harvard College Observatory from 1877 to his death in 1919, where he made great leaps forward in the gathering of stellar spectra through the use of photography.

At Harvard, he recruited many women to work for him, including Annie Jump Cannon, Henrietta Swan Leavitt, and Antonia Maury. These women, who came to be known as "Pickering's Harem" by the scientific community, made several important discoveries at HCO. Leavitt's discovery of the period - luminosity relationship for Cepheids, published by Pickering, would prove the foundation for the modern understanding of cosmological distances.

In 1876 he co-founded the Appalachian Mountain Club.

In 1911 he co-founded the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) with William T. Olcott.