In Memoriam - Peter Egelstaff

Former resident of Guelph and; Waterloo died on the 18th of January 2015 at Parkwood Mennonite Home in Waterloo.. Dr. Peter Egelstaff was awarded the Ph.D. by the University of London in 1954. Peter was a pioneer of neutron scattering, the practice of bombarding selected material with a beam of neutrons to study the distinctive patterns they make when they bounce off. The patterns reveal information about the atomic and molecular structure and dynamics of the material. He began his professional career at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment (A.E.R.E.) Harwell, UK. He also worked at Atomic Energy Canada Limited (A.E.C.L.) Chalk River, Ontario where he developed cold neutron sources and high speed chopper spectrometers. These methods have been broadly copied and have been in standard use in the neutron facilities around the world. Peter came to the University of Guelph in 1970 to become Chair of the Department of Physics. His work continued developing supercomputer programs to simulate liquid properties. Peter was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1980. Peter was named the Researcher of Distinction for the first 25 year historical period of the University of Guelph. After his retirement in 1990, Peter was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of Waterloo and the University Professor Emeritus at the University of Guelph.