Peter Duncumb FRS FInstP (born 26 January 1931) is a British physicist specialising in X-ray microscopy and microanalysis.
[1] He carried out key work on the development of the scanning electron probe X-ray microanalyser, now a common tool for surface studies in most materials laboratories.
[2][5] 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.
[2] After joining the Central Laboratories of Tube Investments in 1959, he built a second instrument, known as EMMA, combining X-ray microanalysis with transmission electron microscopy.
[2] In 1966, Duncumb won the Charles Vernon Boys Prize (now known as the Moseley Medal) of the Institute of Physics for "the design and construction of the scanning electron probe system for localized elemental analysis".