1. Sir Ben Lockspeiser, KCB, FRS, MIMechE, FRAeS was a British scientific administrator and the first President of CERN.
13 Facts About Ben Lockspeiser
1. 2.
Ben Lockspeiser spent most of his early years in Clapton, east London, and was educated at the Grocers' School, Hackney.
3.
Ben Lockspeiser was invalided out with amoebic dysentery Amoebiasis to Egypt.
4.
Ben Lockspeiser stayed on and worked for a time on a treatment for the disease.
5.
Ben Lockspeiser was demobilized in 1919 and, back in England, gained entry to the armaments and aerodynamics section of the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough.
6.
In 1939 Ben Lockspeiser moved to the Air Ministry as assistant director of scientific research, and then to the new Ministry of Aircraft Production in 1940, to become deputy director in 1941.
7.
Ben Lockspeiser is credited with suggesting the spotlights height system used by 617 Squadron, RAF during the Dam busters raid, unlike in the film The Dam Busters in which it is credited to Guy Gibson.
8.
In 1946 Ben Lockspeiser was appointed chief scientist of the Ministry of Supply.
9.
Ben Lockspeiser was heavily involved in research into the secret development of a British atomic bomb, supersonic flight, and guided weapons.
10.
Ben Lockspeiser was keen to support the development of electronic computers, notably the Ferranti Mark 1 at Manchester.
11.
Ben Lockspeiser joined an appeal to the Home Secretary, with Benjamin Britten, John Masefield and others, to abolish hanging.
12.
Ben Lockspeiser was an honorary fellow of Sidney Sussex College and a life fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and he was awarded the American medal of freedom in 1946.
13.
Ben Lockspeiser died on 18 October 1990 at his home, Birchway, 15 Waverley Road, Farnborough, five months short of his one-hundredth birthday.