AN Old Elean was welcomed back to King’s Ely this week to provide a science lecture on the subject of satellite navigation.
David Broughton attended the school from 1949-1958 first as a chorister, moving on to become a King’s Scholar and Head of School. After leaving, he became a navigator in the RAF, a job now redundant due to the development of specialist GPS technology. David went on to become a Director of the Royal Institute of Navigation, before retiring in 2009.
He spoke in detail about the beginnings and methods of pre-GPS navigation, the physics behind those processes and the social and biological effects of today’s technology on human beings. There was a humorous tone to his story telling and the Sixth Form students, staff, and VIPs, including the Deputy Mayor Ian Lindsay, learned a great deal from his talk.
Robert Bosworth-Daft, Head Boy at King’s Ely and a keen scientist himself, remarked: “Listening to the journey David Broughton has been on was inspirational; his personal experience of the changing navigational equipment and the numerous calculations required was astonishing.”
The Osmond Lecture was established and endowed by the Old Eleans’ Club to commemorate the career of Leonard Osmond, a science teacher at the school from 1930 to 1970.