Desmond Kempson

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Desmond John Kempson
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Desmond Kempson
Nicknames Odd Bod, Disco Des
Born 1927 (age 97–98)
Education St Paul's Cheltenham; London (BSc 1967)
Roles Head of Science
Years at BGS 1973-c1987
Departments Science
Subjects Physics
Notable work(s) Astronomical Society, Physics and Engineering Films, Radio and Electronics Society
Children Alison; S Kempson

Desmond John Kempson was a teacher of Physics at Boston Grammar School (1973-c1987).

Minor Disasters

The following catalogue of disasters in Desmond Kempson's Physics classes was supplied by Pat Everitt.

  • while demonstrating centripetal force with a bucket of water, the handle broke;
  • while demonstrating how friction generates heat by running Andrew Elsom up and down the bench, the subject's head became impaled on a gas tap;
  • someone dropped the glass bottled Radon generator, smashing it and causing radio-active powder to go everywhere. The laboratory was evacuated;
  • Mr Kempson touched the Van de Graaff generator to prove how quickly it lost it's charge, but not on this occasion;
  • someone dropped a bottle of mercury which vanished into the floor and appeared a bit later in the chemistry labs via the ceiling. The laboratory was evacuated;
  • while electroplating items with copper sulphate someone used a (mainly magnesium) pencil sharpener, thus causing a chemical reaction that quickly filled the entire laboratory with hydrogen. The laboratory was evacuated.

See Also