Catalogue of the papers and correspondenceof Albert Ernest Kempton (1911 - 2000) by Simon Coleman and Peter Harper NCUACScatalogue no. 116/2/03 A.E. Kempton NCUACS116/2/03 Title: Catalogue of the papers and correspondenceof Albert Ernest Kempton (1911-2000), physicist Compiled by: Simon Coleman Description level: Fonds Date of material: ca 1930-ca 2000 Extent of material: ca 120 items Depositedin: Cambridge University Library Reference code: GB 0012 © National Cataloguing Unit for the Archives of Contemporary Scientists, University of Bath NCUACScatalogueno. 116/2/03 A.E. Kempton NCUACS116/2/03 The work of the National Cataloguing Unit for the Archives of Contemporary Scientists is supported bythe following societies and organisations: The British Computer Society The British Crystallographic Association The Geological Society Girton College Cambridge TheInstitute of Physics The Royal Society The Royal Astronomical Society The Royal Society of Chemistry St John’s College Cambridge Trinity College Cambridge The Wellcome Trust A.E. Kempton NCUACS116/2/03 NOT ALL THE MATERIAL IN THIS COLLECTION MAY YET BE AVAILABLE FOR CONSULTATION. ENQUIRIES SHOULD BE ADDRESSED IN THE FIRST INSTANCE TO: THE KEEPER OF MANUSCRIPTS CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY WEST ROAD CAMBRIDGE A.E. Kempton NCUACS116/2/03 4 LIST OF CONTENTS GENERALINTRODUCTION SECTION A BIOGRAPHICAL SECTION B RESEARCH A.1-A. B.1-B.5 SECTION C TEACHING C.1-C.90 Items Page 5 6 9 11 A.E. Kempton NCUACS 116/2/03 GENERALINTRODUCTION PROVENANCE 5 The papers were received for cataloguing from Christ's College Cambridge on 8 November 2000. OUTLINE OF THE CAREER OF ALBERT ERNEST KEMPTON Albert Ernest Kempton, the last of Ernest Rutherford’s research students at the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, was born on 26th December 1911. After taking a First in Part 2 Physics at Cambridge in 1933, he joined the research on deuterons as a member of M.L.E. Oliphant’s team. In 1938 he joined the ’cyclotron team’, working with W.B. Lewis. During World WarIl Kempton worked on the developmentof radar, particularly for coastal defence. In 1945 he returned to the Cavendish as a lecturer and remained there for the rest of his professional career. As a distinguished Fellow of Christ’s College, he was deeply involved in the College’s affairs and remained on the Council for thirty-five years. Kempton died on 17 April 2000. DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION The papers date from c.1930 to c.2000. Section A, Biographical, chiefly consists of undergraduate notebooks and files. There are also drafts etc of speeches commemorating Kempton’s career, one by Sir Brian Pippard. Section B, Research, includes a notebook relating to Kempton’s postgraduate thesis and a printed version of the same. There is also material relating to a series of lectures by Erwin Schroedinger at the School of Theoretical Physics, Institute of Advanced Studies, Dublin, 1944, and Los Alamos Report 24: ‘Lecture Series on Nuclear Physics’, undated (lecturers include F. Bloch, E. Segré, E. Teller and V.F. Weisskopf. Section C, Teaching, presents a substantial body of material covering much of the period which Kempton spent teaching at the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge. Notebooks and papers date from 1956 to the 1970s. S. Coleman Bath, 2003 A.E. Kempton NCUACS116/2/03 Biographical A.1-A.24 BIOGRAPHICAL 6 c.1930- c.2000 A.1-A.22 Undergraduate notebooks A.23-A.24 Tributes A.1-A.22 UNDERGRADUATE NOTEBOOKSAND FILES 1931-1932 Most notebooksare inscribed Trinity’, with the name of an academic term and the name of a topic and, sometimes, the lecturer's name, inside the front covers. These names are reproduced astitles in the following descriptions. Loose notes are found intercalated in places. ‘Lent 1931: Electrodynamics, Dr J.D. Cockroft’. ‘Lent 1931: Electricity’. ‘Michaelmas 1931: The Constitution of Matter’. ‘Michaelmas 1931: Electric Oscillations & Waves’. ’Michaelmas 1931: Electric Oscillations & Waves’. ‘Michaelmas 1931: Practical Physics’. Included are graphs of experimental results. ’Michaelmas 1931: Light’. 1931 1931 1931 1931 1931 1931 1931 A.1 A.2 A.3 A.4 A.5 A.6 A.7 A.E. Kempton NCUACS116/2/03 Biographical A.8 A.9 A.10 ‘Lent 1932: X rays and Thermionics, Mr Stead’. ‘Michaelmas 1932: Quantum Theory of Spectra, Mr Wilson, Emm[anuel]’. Michaelmas 1932: The Kinetic Theory of Gases, R.H. Fowler’. 1932 1932 1932 ‘lonisation and Radioactivity’. c. 1930-1933 A.12 Untitled notebook. c.1930-1933 Heading onfirst page is Wave Motion’. A.13-A.20 Contents of an untitled file. c. 1930-1933 The notes are on thermodymanics and other topics. Paginated 1-111, though disarranged. 8 folders. A.21-A.22 Contents of an unmarkedfile. c. 1930-1933 Notes on various topics. 2 folders. A.23-A.24 TRIBUTES A.23 Speech by Sir Brian Pippard giving an account of Kempton’s career. Photocopy of 2pp manuscriptdraft. The occasion of the speech is unknown. c.2000 c. 2000 A.E. Kempton NCUACS116/2/03 8 Biographical A.24 Tribute to Kempton delivered by the Master of Christ’s College, Cambridge. c. 2000 2pp typescript entitled The Master’s Address’. A.E. Kempton NCUACS116/2/03 Research B.1-B.5 RESEARCH c.1930-1944 B.1 Notebook entitled Fellowship Thesis’. Manuscript notes. ‘Provisional Survey & Notes for c.[1930]-1935 From front: The abovetitle is followed by the heading ‘The Constitution of the Light Nuclei’ and the date ’22 May 1935’. Further headings include the following: ’Mutation Properties of a Nucleus’, Spontaneous Disint.[egration]’, ‘Nuclear Symmetry - Spins etc’. Paginated 1-77. From back: undergraduate work. Notes on various topics, probably for B.2 ‘Some Experiments on the Artificial Transmutation of the Light Elements’, by Kempton. [21936] The work is described as a ‘dissertation’ in the preface and appears to bethe finished version of the ’Fellowship Thesis’ in B.1. Inscribed ’Trinity College’on title page. Kempton writes ’All the experimental work of the first three with one exception, was done in collaboration with Dr Oliphant and Lord Rutherford’. chapters, 201pp. appendices andbibliography. The work is organised in four chapters with Printed and bound. B.3 Notebook entitled ‘Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge’. 1937 Notes on experimental work carried out by Kempton at the Cavendish Laboratory. Included are graphs and many pages of intercalated notes. A number of pages and graphs are inscribed with dates, all 1937. B.4 "Statistical Thermodynamics’, ’ seminar lectures delivered in January-March 1944 at the School of Theoretical Physics, by Erwin Schroedinger.’ Course of 1944 136pp copy of a typescript of the lectures, so entitled. A.E. Kempton NCUACS116/2/03 10 Research B.5 ‘LA [Los Alamos] Report 24: Lecture Series on Nuclear Physics’. nd The report is organised into the following series of lectures, with the namesofthe lecturers also given: lecturer: E.M. series: ‘Terminology’; First McMillan. Second series: ‘Radioactivity’; lecturers: E. Segré, E. Teller, F. Bloch. Third series: 'Neutron Physics’; lecturer: Fourth series: 'Two Body Problem’; J.H. Williams. lecturer: C.L. Critchfield. Fifth series: 'The Statistical Theory of Nuclear Reactions’; lecturer: V.F. Weisskopf. Sixth series: 'Diffusion Theory; lecturer: R.F. Christy. A.E. Kempton NCUACS116/2/03 11 Teaching C.1-C.90 TEACHING 1956-c.1978 C.1-C.11 Notebooks C.12-C.90 Teaching files C.1-C.11 NOTEBOOKS 1957-c.1970 The notes are mostly copied from publications and relate to Kempton’s teaching at the Cavendish Laboratory. Some can be dated byinscriptions found on someof the pages. C.1 C.2 C.3 C.4 C.5 1957. 1958. 1958. 1960. 1963. C.6-C.11 c. 1957-c.1970. 6 notebooks. C.12-C.90 TEACHING FILES 1956-c.1978 Manuscript and typescript papers used for teaching, contents of originalfiles. A.E. Kempton NCUACS116/2/03 Teaching Someof the manuscript notes are not in Kempton’s hand. C.12-C.13 ‘Practical Coursesfor Part II Physics’. 1956 72pp typescript so entitled. page. Inscribed ‘July 1956’ ontitle 2 folders. C.14-C.15 Teaching papers. 1962-1969 Contentsofa file. 2 folders. C.16-C.17 Teaching papers. c. 1967 Contents of file. 2 folders. C.18-C.20 Teaching papers. 1973 Contents of file. 3 folders. C.21-C.23 Teaching papers. c. 1973 Contents ofa file. 3 folders. C.24-C.27 Teaching papers. c. 1974 Contents of file. 4 folders. C.28 Teaching papers. c. 1974 Contents ofa file. A.E. Kempton NCUACS116/2/03 13 Teaching C.29-C.32 ’‘Hewish 1977 (& 1976)’. c. 1977 Contents of a file so inscribed. 4 folders. C.33-C.35 ’New Lecturesfor 1977-1978’. 1977 Contents of a file so inscribed. 3 folders. C.36-C.40 Teaching papers. c. 1978 Contents of file. 5 folders. C.41-C.42 Teaching papers. c. 1978 Contents of file. 2 folders. C.43-C.44 Teaching papers. c. 1978 Contentsof a file so inscribed. 2 folders. C.45-C.50 Teaching papers. c. 1978 Contents of file. 6 folders. C.51-C.54 ‘Howie’. c. 1978 Contents of a file so inscribed. A.E. Kempton NCUACS116/2/03 4 folders. C.55 Teaching material. Contents of a folder. C.56-C.57 Teaching material. Contentsofa file. 2 folders. 14 c. 1978 c. 1978 C.58-C.60 Teaching papers. c. 1978 Contentsof file. 3 folders. C.61-C.64 Teaching papers. c. 1978 Contents of file. 4 folders. C.65-C.70 Teaching papers. c. 1978 Contents of file. 6 folders. C.71-C.73 Teaching papers. c. 1978 Contents of file. 3 folders. C.74-C.75 ‘Lectures Misc’. [?1970s] Contents ofa file so inscribed. 2 folders. A.E. Kempton NCUACS116/2/03 15 Teaching C.76-C.78 Riley’. [?1970s] Contents of a file so inscribed. 3 folders. C.79-C.84 Teaching papers. [?1970s] Contents of file. 6 folders. C.85-C.89 Teaching papers. [?1970s] Contents of file. 5 folders. C.90 3 lectures on nuclear physics given on 7, 10 and 11 September 1945. 1945 5pp photocopyof typescript abstracts of the lectures. Thetitles of the lectures are not given. Topics (indicated by headings) include ’Passage of Radiation through Matter’, Nuclear transformations’ and the Modern Theory of the Nucleus’.
KEMPTON, Albert Ernest
Published: 16 January, 2024 Author: admin