Denis Gordon Osborne (17 September 1932 – 3 September 2014) was a British diplomat and academic.

Early life

Osborne was educated at

Dr Challoner's Grammar School Dr Challoner's Grammar School (also known as DCGS, Challoner's Boys or simply Challoner's) is a selective grammar school for boys, with a co-educational Sixth Form, in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, England. It was given academy status in January ...

in Amersham and

University College, Durham , motto_English = Not for ourselves alone , scarf = , established = , principal = Wendy Powers , vice_principal = Ellen Crabtree , undergraduates = 698 , postgraduates = 153 , coordinates = , location_map = Durham , map_size ...

, where he graduated with a first-class degree in Physics in 1953. He completed a PhD at the same institution.

Career

From 1957 he was a Durham University lecturer in Physics, including a period in 1958 lecturing in

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierr ...

Fourah Bay College Fourah Bay College is a public university in the neighbourhood of Mount Aureol in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Founded on 18 February 1827, it is the first western-style university built in Sub-Saharan Africa and, furthermore, the first university-l ...

- then affiliated with Durham. He stayed in Africa and became Senior Lecturer in Physics at the

University of Ghana The University of Ghana is a public university located in Accra, Ghana. It the oldest and largest of the thirteen Ghanaian national public universities. The university was founded in 1948 as the University College of the Gold Coast in the Br ...

, but was eventually arrested and imprisoned by the government of Kwame Nkrumah. In 1964 he joined the

University of Dar es Salaam The University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) is a public university in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. It was established in 1961 as an affiliate college of the University of London. The university became an affiliate of the University of East Africa (UEA) in ...

as Reader in Physics, becoming Professor in 1966 and Dean of Science in 1968. After a student in a physics lecture, Erasto Mpemba, asked him why hot water sometimes freezes faster than cold water, Osborne experimented to confirm Mpemba's observation, and together they co-authored a paper on what is now known as the

Mpemba effect The Mpemba effect is the name given to the observation that a liquid (typically water) which is initially hot can freeze faster than the same liquid which begins cold, under otherwise similar conditions. There is disagreement about its theoretical ...

. In 1971, he served as a consultant with the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

, and in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

the following year. Osborne left his academic career behind in 1972 when he joined the Civil Service, serving within the

Overseas Development Administration , type = Department , logo = DfID.svg , logo_width = 180px , logo_caption = , picture = File:Admiralty Screen (411824276).jpg , picture_width = 180px , picture_caption = Department for International Development (London office) (far right ...

. He became Head of the East and West Africa Department in 1984 and in 1987 was picked to serve as High Commissioner in Malawi. Osborne later worked as an independent development consultant. He donated some of his personal papers relating to his time in Africa to the Bodleian Library.

Personal

Osborne was a member of the

Athenaeum Athenaeum may refer to: Books and periodicals * ''Athenaeum'' (German magazine), a journal of German Romanticism, established 1798 * ''Athenaeum'' (British magazine), a weekly London literary magazine 1828–1921 * ''The Athenaeum'' (Acadia U ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Osborne, Denis 1932 births 2014 deaths Alumni of University College, Durham People educated at Dr Challoner's Grammar School Members of HM Diplomatic Service High Commissioners of the United Kingdom to Malawi Academic staff of the University of Ghana Academic staff of the University of Dar es Salaam Academic staff of Fourah Bay College Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George 20th-century British diplomats