PROFESSOR RUTHERFORD.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 636, 13 October 1909, Page 8

PROFESSOR RUTHERFORD.

; LECTURE BY PEOHISSOB T. H. LABTi ; The most distinguished of young landers, Professor 'Rutherford, the ■ investigator of radium; was the subject w of a very interesting lecture which was delivered by Pro- ... fessor T. H. Laby, of Victoria College,.in the Municipal Concert Hall on; MondayV night , There was a large and appreciative audience. ~ The lecturer's, sketch of Rutherford's'career began with .his .birth at Nelson in'lß7l, and , passedion to 6peak of his education at Nelson <[ College under Mr. J. W. Joynt, aad: aftonfaids at Canterbury College, under Professor Bickerton. Rutherford did ;not at'fir6t show his . great aptitude.'for physical science, and his : earliest distinctions were' in mathematics.' H» was only awarded his. Exhibition Scholarship after the student who was selected for ' thaY, year had found himself unable 1 to take it up.. Nevertheless, no holder of that scholarship .:. had'.fiUed'it with greater ■ distinction.",jßutter- ' ford's career at Trinity College, Cambridge, as a student,, under Sir J. J. Thomson, was; sketched, and allusion was made to' the early" investigation-' of Hertzian' waves and. Epntgen ' rays' made by Professor Thomson and.his young New Zealand, student.' Rutherford.bocame'Professor of Physics ai M'GilT University,". Montreal,'in' 1898. In that .year radium:: was discovered by '.M,. and Mine. Curie,; and within;, five years. Rutherford' had ■ published , his ; book; "Radio-Activity," in. which ,ho not\ merely' extended the liouhdaries of knowledge, but annexed a whole province. This'-book.'was one that for-,originality' and 1 briHianco: hod ' been seldom equalled.'. Other countries had 1 honoured 1 Rutherford, yet in Wellington, tho capital; of his native land, none of his original writings were to be'found in',the libraries. , A-, sum year, was formerly spent in .' purchasing"a ''cerain'''ph'ilosophical,>magazine i for a certain local library, bat when that peri-." odical began ;to. publish Rutherford's astounding, discoveries,', the'.library, had already, ceased ,- £o ;receive.;it. VWorild it' have'' beeri possible, . asked - the' lecturer, for' Rutherford to carry .' out his researches in Wellington f It would : not, was the reply, and "while admitting that . that would be no excuse for not doing original work-in. New Zealand, 1 the lecturer made the point olear by .describing tho magnificent, arid costly physical': Bcienco.'equipment' at' M'Gill, University. Rutherford's further distinctions', were detailed, culminating: with the award of ',■ the J^obel. prize last year, and the lecturer closed with a tribute- to his contagious enthusiasm and his charming and genial manner. Tho lecture 'was' .illustrated with lantern slides and demonstrations with Rontgen rays. ■ A small piece of radium was-also exhibited. A vote of thanks'was carried with enthusiasm.' • „'- ,''■■.