Wilder Dwight Bancroft

Wilder Dwight Bancroft (October 1, 1867 – February 7, 1953) was an American physical chemist.

He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1913,[1] a Member of the American Philosophical Society in 1920,[2] and was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1920.

[3] 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 stabilizes an oil-in-water emulsion, whereas a predominantly hydrophobic emulsifier stabilizes a water-in oil emulsion.

His daughter, Mary Warner Bancroft (1896–1967), married another Cornell chemistry professor, Melvin Lorrel Nichols (1894–1981).