G. Michael Bancroft

George "G." Michael Bancroft, , (born 1942) is a Canadian chemist and emeritus professor at the University of Western Ontario. One of the world's leading experts in Mössbauer spectroscopy, He graduated from the University of Manitoba in 1963, subsequently earning an MSc in chemistry (1964) from the same institution. Later that year he went to the University of Cambridge, England to study for a PhD at Corpus Christi College. He worked under the supervision of A.G. Maddock on the development of Mössbauer spectroscopy, obtaining his PhD in 1967. Over a 20-year period Bancroft would become one of the world's leading experts in Mössbauer spectroscopy, publishing more than 80 papers, a major review and an authoritative textbook in the field.

University of Western Ontario After working as a postdoc at the University of Manitoba, Bancroft returned to Cambridge as a Fellow at Christ's College.

Bancroft returned to Canada in 1970, as an assistant professor in the department of chemistry at the University of Western Ontario (UWO), becoming a professor in 1974, spending two periods as head of department. Bancroft was director of the Centre for Chemical Physics from 1977 to 1981, establishing Surface Science Western during his tenure.

Canadian Synchrotron Radiation Facility

In 1972 Bancroft took part in a workshop organised by Bill McGowan of (UWO) on the uses of synchrotron radiation, an event he has described "the beginning of my 30 year odyssey to develop Canadian synchrotron capabilities in the US and then in Canada". He began work at the Synchrotron Radiation Center (SRC) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, US, in 1975, as a result of contact established with then-SRC director Ed Rowe at the 1972 meeting. After several failed attempts were made to establish a synchrotron facility in Canada, Bancroft submitted a proposal to the NRC to build a Canadian beamline at SRC. In 1978 the newly created NSERC awarded capital funding, and the Canadian Synchrotron Radiation Facility (CSRF) was founded. CSRF, owned and operated by NRC, with Bancroft as scientific director, grew from the initial beamline to a total of three by 1998. Bancroft's appointment ended in 2001, although he remained as research director until 2004, and he returned to UWO. Bancroft's association with the CLS continues, and he currently serves on their board of directors.

Awards and honours Bancroft was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC) in 1979 (at the age of 37), He was awarded the RSC's Rutherford Memorial Medal in 1980, a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1982/3, and the CIC and Montreal medals of the Chemical Institute of Canada in 1996 and 2002 respectively. The Canadian Light Source annual award for best PhD thesis is named for Bancroft.