Peter Duncumb

Peter Duncumb (born 26 January 1931) is a British physicist specialising in X-ray microscopy and microanalysis.

Early life and education Duncumb was educated at Clare College, Cambridge. He earned his PhD in 1957, under the supervision of Vernon Ellis Cosslett.

Career Duncumb worked at the University of Cambridge as a research fellow from 1957 until 1959. His early work led to the first commercial instrument for imaging the distribution of selected chemical elements on a microscale, providing essential information for failure analysis and the development of new materials. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1977. In 1996, he received the Henry Clifton Sorby Award of the International Metallographic Society.

The Peter Duncumb Award for Excellence in Microanalysis, awarded yearly by the Microanalysis Society since 2007, is named in his honour.