Wilder Dwight Bancroft

Wilder Dwight Bancroft (Middletown, Rhode Island on 1 October 1867 - 7 February 1953) was an American physical chemist.

He received a B.A. from Harvard University in 1888, a Ph.D. from University of Leipzig in 1892, and honorary SCDs from Lafayette College (in 1919) and Cambridge University (in 1923).

He was an assistant chemistry instructor at Harvard University from 1888-1889 and 1893-1894, then a full instructor from 1894-1895. He then became an assistant professor at Cornell University in 1895, then a full professor (at Cornell) in 1903.

Bancroft was trained by Wilhelm Ostwald and Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff, and introduced a number of thermodynamic and colloid-chemical concepts into American physicochemistry. He is known for the Bancroft rule: a predominantly hydrophilic emulsifier stabilises an oil-in-water emulsion, whereas a predominantly hydrophobic emulsifier stabilises a water-in oil emulsion.

The lunar crater Bancroft is named in his honor.

elected writings

* W. D. Bancroft (1913), Theory of emulsification, "Journal of Physical Chemistry" 17, 501 – 519.

External links

* [http://lab.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=4548&page=R5 Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences, 1994, v. 65, 3 – 39] - by J. W. Servos

* [http://www.rsc.org/delivery/_ArticleLinking/DisplayArticleForFree.cfm?doi=JR9530002506&JournalCode=JR Obituary] (by A. Findlay, "J. Chem. Soc.", 1954, 2506 – 2514; pdf copy)