C5.6.2 Famous New Zealanders: Ernest Rutherford
Description
This article is from the New Zealand FAQ, by Phil Stuart-Jones and Lin Nah with numerous contributions by others.
C5.6.2 Famous New Zealanders: Ernest Rutherford
After receiving a master's from Canterbury College, Chistchurch, Rutherford
went to Cambridge in 1885 to work under Sir JJ Thomson at Cavendish
Laboratory.
He took up a physics professorship at McGill, Montreal, in 1898, worked
with Soddy and in 1902-3 identified radioactive half-life, moved to
Victoria University of Manchester in 1907 and was awarded the Nobel Prize
in Chemistry in 1908 for his work on radioactivity. He worked with Geiger
in 1908 and in 1909 used alpha particle bombardment of thin foils to lead
to his 1911 description of atomic structure.
He was knighted in 1914, then succeeded Thomson at the Cavendish Laboratory
in 1919. He was elevated to the peerage in 1931. His other awards
included an Order of Merit in 1921, the Copley Medal of the Royal Society
in 1922, and he was President of the Royal Society from 1925 until 1930.
In 1931 he was created Baron Rutherford of Nelson.
--
Tony Williams adds:
In 1897-98 he discovered two components of radioactivity, alpha and beta
rays. In 1898 he moved to McGill University, Montreal, as a professor
and did much work in partnership with Frederick Soddy into radioactivity
and transmutation.
In 1903 became professor of physics in the University of Manchester (uk).
Many of the brightest minds in physics at that time visited him and some
even stayed to work for him, in the gloomy basements of the university.
Much basic work in particles and collisions and nucleii was done during
this period by Rutherford and his team.
In 1918 Rutherford took over as Cavendish Professor at Cambridge (uk), a
post he 'inherited' from his old friend and mentor J.J. Thompson. The
team of researchers that ensued at the Cavendish over the next ten years
under Rutherford did much of the fundamental work in atomic physics.
Various photographs from that time show a casual roll-call of names of
people who were to become the giants in this field, all eager to visit
and work with Rutherford.
One very interesting photograph shows Rutherford, a big burly man with a
fag hanging out of one side of his mouth, standing in Vivian Bowden's
laboratory. There is an illuminated sign saying "Talk SOFTLY Please"
just above Rutherford's head. Apparently Bowden had this sign built
specially, because the ionisation apparatus was microphonic, and
Rutherford's loud booming voice could easily ruin experiments.
--
As for the existence of the Victoria University of Manchester, Richard
Kingston offered:
"Strangely enough, I possess a book called 'Rutherford at Manchester'.
It's copyright to the Victoria University of Manchester, 1962, so I guess
it must exist :-)
This comes from the preface
"Ernest Rutherford, later Baron Rutherford of Nelson, the acknowledged
founder of nuclear science, was Langworthy Professor of Physics at the
Victoria University of Manchester from 1907 to 1919"
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