Neville, George Arthur, 1936- : George Neville was born in Brockville, Ontario 1936. He studied organic chemistry at Queen's University in Kingston and received his bachelors, masters and Ph.D. from that institution. In 1966 he became a research scientist with the Food and Drug Directorate of the Department of National Health and Welfare in Ottawa, specializing in the use of molecular spectroscopy to identify organic substances. In the late 1960's, Neville became head of the Spectroscopy Section of the Drug Identification Division of National Health and Welfare/Health Canada. As a result of being a Centennial Fellow of the Medical Research Council, Neville spent 1972-73 at the University of Lund in Sweden studying mercury complexation with sulphur-containing amino acids in the environment.
Neville introduced new techniques such as nuclear magnetic resonance and Fournier Transform-Infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy into his section. It studied mercury compounds, ophthalmic solutions, bovine antibiotics, low molecular weight heparin and many new drugs. Much of the work of the section was devoted to developing testing procedures for identifying narcotics for police forces across Canada. There were numerous studies of different classes of amphetamines and barbiturates as well as determining the composition and structure of new designer drugs. As a result of severe government cutbacks, Health Canada decided to cut in-house drug identification and the Bureau of Drug Research was closed. Neville retired in July 1997.
Neville was active in a number of different associations. He was a long-term member of the Chemical Institute of Canada and was on its Council 1981-85. Neville was a strong supporter of the Spectroscopy Society of Canada including the presidency of the Ottawa Chapter, the Editorial Board of the "Canadian Journal of Spectroscopy" (1978-97) and was SSC President in the late 1980s. Neville was also editor of the Ontario Genealogical Society's journal "Families" 1978-83. He was secretary of the Carleton Soil and Crop Development Association and active in the local Glaber Park Community Association.
