Denis Osborne

Osborne was educated at Dr Challoner's Grammar School in Amersham and University College, Durham, where he graduated with a first-class degree in Physics in 1953.[1] He subsequently completed a PhD at the same institution.

From 1957 he was a Durham University lecturer in Physics, including a period in 1958 lecturing in Sierra Leone at Fourah Bay College - then affiliated with Durham.[1] He stayed in Africa, moving on to the University of Ghana, where he was Senior Lecturer in Physics. During this time he was arrested and imprisoned by the government of Kwame Nkrumah.[2] In 1964 he joined the University of Dar es Salaam as Reader in Physics, becoming Professor in 1966 and Dean of Science in 1968.[1] 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.[3] In 1971 he served as a consultant with the World Bank in Malaysia, and in Ethiopia the following year.[1]

Osborne left his academic career behind in 1972 when he joined the Civil Service, serving within the Overseas Development Administration. He became Head of the East and West Africa Department in 1984 and in 1987 was picked to serve as High Commissioner in Malawi.[1]

After leaving his post in Malawi Osborne became an independent development consultant.[4] He donated some of his personal papers relating to his time in Africa to the Bodleian Library[5] and was a member of the Athenaeum.[1]