Feel My Mini H-Bombs
"[S]eems to be in his own world and might have a bit of a god complex," writes a perceptive student, on Rate My Professors, of John Belot, a tenured chemistry professor at the University of Nebraska.
More recently, a student who watched him bring out a paper bag full of bombs and distribute them to the class, told the press:
"Personally, the first day I met him the impression I got was, 'This guy is crazy,' [...] He's just a very high-strung guy . . . just all over the place."
[The student] said Belot kept getting off topic during his lecture on solutions and talked about some explosives that his student assistant made during the summer. The assistant obtained the necessary supplies using Belot's name, she said.
[The student] said Belot said that he had detonated one of the devices already, and that the explosive produced a small mushroom cloud, "like mini H-bombs."
Belot sent a student to his office to retrieve a paper bag that contained the explosives, she said.
When the student came back with the bag, [the student] noticed a corrosive liquid was leaking from one of the corners of the bag.
"I saw that, and I was like, '… are you serious?'" she said.
Belot dismissed class early, [the student] said, and she left too quickly to see if any students took the devices with them.
Indeed quite a few students took the explosives, but most have handed them over to the university.
[An official] said eight of the explosives have been recovered so far and are now in the possession of the Lincoln Fire Department.
[The official] wouldn't quantify how many of the devices could still be in the possession of students. But in an e-mail sent to students in Belot's class, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Juan Franco said he believed students took nine of the devices.
[An official] said the explosives are cylinders three to four inches long and one inch in diameter. Some of them are painted silver and red.
"The materials are volatile and dangerous, and they could cause severe bodily injury," [he] said. "And with any sort of homemade explosive like that, you just don't know when it might explode."
[Another official] said the explosives are powerful enough to destroy a hand or an arm.
And because they are homemade and were kept on campus... the devices were completely illegal.
...Anyone who has information about the missing devices should contact University Police at (402) 472-3555.
Although he is currently jailed for possession and classroom distribution of explosives, Belot's faculty webpage burns brightly. Here he is. Note that he's the second mad bomber professor UD's featured lately.
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