= J. D. Kemp
{c}
\b[J. D. Kemp] is a chemist credited with <K. S. Pitzer> on the 1937 paper <The Entropy of Ethane and the Third Law of Thermodynamics. Hindered Rotation of Methyl Groups by J. D. Kemp and Kenneth S. Pitzer>. The paper connects molecular internal rotation with <entropy> and the <third law of thermodynamics>; the originating record identifies Kemp by initials.<The Entropy of Ethane and the Third Law of Thermodynamics. Hindered Rotation of Methyl Groups by J. D. Kemp and Kenneth S. Pitzer>[JACS 59(2),276–279, published 1 February 1937; byline and title.]{ref}
The physical question is whether rotation around a carbon-carbon bond can be treated as free or whether angle-dependent <potential energy> must be included. For example, a model $V(\theta)=0$ assigns the same energy to every orientation; a threefold model $V(\theta)=B(1+\cos3\theta)/2$ distinguishes <staggered conformations> from <eclipsed conformations>. Such models predict different populations of orientations and therefore different contributions to <entropy>. The example explains the thermodynamic relevance of the paper's question; it is not a reconstructed numerical result from the 1937 experiment.
Kemp's verified contribution here is coauthorship of that focused physical-chemistry study. The bibliographic evidence does not assign a separate apparatus design or calculation to each coauthor, and it does not establish a full name or a portrait.
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