diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index c601f86..58b6f23 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+v1.0.3
+- post: add function to read output of SaveData/SaveScalars solver to pandas dataframe
+
 v1.0.2
 - add referencing to other bodies / boundaries (issue #17) using the StringFromList class
 
diff --git a/pyelmer/post.py b/pyelmer/post.py
index 8a6d40f..4de734d 100644
--- a/pyelmer/post.py
+++ b/pyelmer/post.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 import re
 import numpy as np
 import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
+import pandas as pd
 from dataclasses import dataclass
 
 
@@ -224,3 +225,25 @@ def plot_residuals(sim_dir, solvers, save=False):
             fig.savefig(fig_dir + fig.title + ".png")
 
     return figs, axes
+
+
+def dat_to_dataframe(dat_file):
+    """Read a .dat file generated by elmer (e.g. SaveData/SaveScalars
+    solver) into a pandas dataframe.
+
+    Args:
+        dat_file (str): file path of elmer .dat file
+
+    Returns:
+        pandas.core.frame.DataFrame: content of dat file with header
+    """
+    with open(f"{dat_file}.names") as f:
+        lines = f.readlines()
+    names = []
+    names_start = False
+    for line in lines:
+        if names_start == True:
+            names.append(line.split(":")[-1].strip())
+        if "Data on different columns" in line:
+            names_start = True
+    return pd.read_table(dat_file, names=names, delim_whitespace=True)
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 32b278b..3d15e86 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
         "matplotlib",
         "numpy",
         "objectgmsh",
+        "pandas",
     ],
     python_requires=">=3.7",
 )