RUTHERFORD

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 2 January 1931, Page 5

RUTHERFORD

“WORLD'S GREATEST EXPERIMENTER”

BRITAIN’S MASTER-SCIENTIST

IMPERISHABLE NAME WON OLD BOY OF NELSON COLLEGE Sir Ernest Rutherford was born at Spring-Grove and first attended the public school at Foxhill. On his visit to Nelson, in October 1925 he visited both the Spring Grove and Foxhill schools. His mother taught in the Spring 'Grove school. In each instance he addressed the pupils. At Foxhill he was shown the original school register, in which his name appeared during the successive years he was a scholar there. The residents of the district evinced great interest in the visit of the distinguished scientist, and many old acquaintances were renewed, and before returning to town Sir Ernest met a number of his relatives at afternoon tea. Among his visits on that day was one to Mr and Mrs Robert Black, of Nelson, whose son, Professor D. H. Black, of London, was tutored by the great scientist.

It was in 1889 that Ernest Rutherford passed out of Nelson College rvith a New Zealand University Scholarship. Within 20 years he had become one of the outstanding scientists in the realm of physics and chemistry in the world. He is a leader of a small body of men who are maintaining Great Britain’s supremacy in the world of physics. It is impossible for the ordinary layman to comprehend the real dimensions of his work. But he knows how to stimulate the imagination of the man in the street. To demonstrate the smallness of an atom he said that estimating the population of the earth at 1,000,000,000, if everyone were able to count continuously 100 a minute for 24 hours a day, in 1000 years they would have succeeded in counting the number of par tides in a quantity of gas which would fill a space about the size of the end of a man s thumb.

STUDENT AT THE CANTERBURY COLLEGE

To relurn to his career as a student

the scholarship upon which, perhaps, hung everything- that has followed, took him to Canterbury College, where, as an undergraduate, he played vigorous but nob particularly brilliant football in the “pack”, boated a little, played some tennis, but never danced owing, it has been said, to the fact that he did not have a dress suit. In his two final years he specialised in science, and was almost constantly in the laboratory. _ Having taken his M.A. degree with first class honours in mathematics and physics and his B.Sc., he won the 1851 Exhibition Scholarship with which he went to England and entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1895. Research, by this time, had gripped him completely, in _fact, he took with him ideas and designs for a magnetic detector of wireless signals which was afterwards turned to good account. He arrived at Cambridge at a fortunate moment. The workers at the Cavendish Laboratory, under the leadership and inspiration of Professor J. J. Thom son, were setting out to explore new fields of science in which the importance of the electron was to be a guiding principle. A body of unusually able men was joined -by* Rutherford, who at once threw himself into the work and was the author of its most remarkable advances. He did a great deal of research bearing on cathode rays and ionisation, which admirably equipped him for, and no doubt attracted him later towards, seeking to elucidate the many and complex phenomena connected with radioactive substances. In 1896, Becquerel made his great discovery of radio-activ-ity in uranium, and the subject immediately drew Rutherford, who, in the following year was awarded a B.A. research degree and the Coutts-Trotter Studentship at Trinity College.

RESE ARCH AT McGILL

In 1898, the momentous discoveries of. Schmidt and Madame Curie and her husband concerning thorium, polonium and radium and their radio-active properties were made, and by happy chance, new opportunities were afforded to Rutherford who, although only in his twenty-eighth year, was appointed Macdonald Research Professor of Physics at McGill University, at Montreal, which possessed one of the finest physical laboratories that thought and money could equip. Great progress was made, numbers of distinguished scientists working with Rutherford and finally they formulated a _ new theory on the subject of radio-activity. It was this: That radio-activity is an atomic phenomenon accompanied by chemical changes in which new types of matter are produced; that the changes must occur within the atom and that the radio-active substance must be in a state of transformation. The theory was loudly assailed but Professor Rutherford submitted his proofs and it- was soon universally accepted. ■ For his discoveries, Dr. Rutherford (the degree of D.Sc. having been cqnferred upon him by the New Zealand University in 1901) received the Royal Society’s Rumford Medal. While at McGill he published several books on radio-activity which are the recognised authorities upon the subject. His investigations and discoveries attracted to McGill students from all parts of the World ' some of whom have achieved scientific fame. It has been said that he might have claimed some of the credit of his pupils’ achievements, but his nature had had too generous a mould to allow him to compete for laurels. V • WORK AT MANCHESTER He went to Manchester as -Langworthy Professor and director of the physical laboratories at the Manchestei University in 1907, where assisted by a very capable group of research students and colleagues, lie pursued the work. He carried out the experiments which led him to the theory ,of atomic structure that dominates the world of physics to-day. He proved that the atom, instead of being something very solid, ■must have a very open structure and •suggested that it must resemble a small planetary system with a positively charged “sun” in the middle and electrons like tiny planets' circulating round 11 The award to Professor Rutherford of the Pressa Prize by the Turin Academy ■of Science in 1908 fixed his world wide reputation. Its significance was that his researches and discoveries during the previous three years were in the opinion of the Turin ‘Academy of Science, a scientific body of weight, the most distinguished and important that liad been made in that period in any branch of science. The same year he was awarded the Nobel Prize for chemistry. ahe Nobel foundation is based on the will oi Dr. Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor of dynamite, who left a fortune from the interest of which five prizes each worth £BOOO are awarded each year for the most important discoveries or improvements in physics, chemistry, and physiology or medicine, the most distinguished work on an idealistic tendency in the -field of literature, and for the best effort toward fraternity of nations and the promotion of peace. The two awards in the one year acclaimed Rutherford’s genius. In 1919 he became Cavendish Pro lessor of Physics at Cambridge succeeding Professor “Thompson, under whom ne had worked as a student. In 1923 he was president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. His knighthood dates from 1914. He married a Christchurch lady, Miss Mary G. Newton, in 1900, and they have one daughter. SCIENTIST’S APPRECIATION In an appreciation of Sir Ernest Rutherford upon the occasion of the 1923 gathering of the British Association, the Australian scientist, Sir W. 11. Bragg, wrote: “The importance and the volume of the work now proceeding there (the Cavendish Laboratory), and the enthusiasm of the men engaged in it are evidence that Rutherford has not lost any of his old powers. He possesses the keen love of research for its own sake, lie has a fine judgment of the essential, and "oes to work in a way . winch, when the end is reached, is seen to have been obviously direct. His arguments and results are expressed in simple and straightforward language which reveals the Completeness and force of his thoughts. He has the courage to break with precedent and to try out ins own ideas. Rutherford has upset many theories, but has never belittled anyone s work He has added new pages to the book of-physical science, and has always taught Ins‘students to venerate the old, even when the writing lias become a little old fashioned. “Perhaps it is by characteristics sucli as these, quite as much as by his own scientific perception and technical skill, that Rutherford exercises so wide an influence. He takes always the broad and generous view, readily giving credit to others for their contributions to knowledge and never pressing for the recognition of his own. For this reason Ins students have worked under him with loyalty and affection, knowing that their interests were safe in his hands. For this reason, too, he lias friends among the scientific workers of every country and is welcome everywhere. “Even these qualities would seem to he insufficient to account for the position which lie holds in common with one or two others only, such as Lorentz and Haarlem. He has, in addition, a

" nn YOU WANT FURTHER PROOF? SANDER’S EUCOLYPTI EXTRACT has been awarded First Award and Gold Medal New Zealand an S.S. Exhibition, Dunedin. 1926. Award and Medal, International Exhibition. and was proved best at the Supreme Court of Vie toria. A trial will convince you that it U unrivalled

sound grasp of the essentials of business and a quick understanding of the thoughts and feelings of those with whom he is dealing. It has happened at more than one gathering that progress has been slow until Rutherford has takien the.lead, and, with his driving power and natural kindliness, has brought about a successful issue, It is the combination, the unusual combination, of so many qualities that has won for Rutherford a host of admirers, and is the cause of the general satisfaction that lie assumes the presidency of the British Association.” SIR CECIL LEYS AUCKLAND. This Day. Sir Cecil Leys, upon whom a knighthood has been conferred in recognition of services performed to the profession of journalism, is managing-director of New Zealand Newspapers. Ltd. He was born in 1877. He was educated at Auckland Grammar School, and won diplomas at Lincoln Agricultural College. He joined the reporting staff of the Auckland “Star” in 1895 and in 1897 spent a year in London with the New Zealand Press Agency, and became assistant editor of the Auckland “Star” in 1903. During the war, from 1915 to 1918, lie saw active .service, first in the Balkans with the Red Cross, to which lie presented an ambulance car, and later as an officer in the Royal Naval Volunteers Reserve during operations in the Persian Gulf and Mesopotamia. On his return to New Zealand he was appointed editor of the Auckland “Star.” and managing director in 1926. When the New Zealand Newspapers, Ltd., was formed last year he became managing-director. In addition io journalistic associations Sir Cecil has taken a keen interest in the social and cultural life of the City of Auckland. He is president of the Leys Institute established under the will of his uncle, the late Mr William Leys, and founded by his father, the late Dr. T. W. Leys, as a library and community centre for young people of the Ponsonby district. He is a member of the Council of the Auckland Institute and Museum, and a member of the governing bodies of many literary, dramatic and artistic societies. He is also a director of the Press Association.

SIR A. A. DOBSON

Sir A. A. Dobson is a surveyor. He was born in London in 1842 and arrived at Lyttelton by the Creasy. He married a daughter of the late Mr Henry Lewis of Nelson. He was educated at Christ’s College. He was engaged on the construction of the Lyttelton tunnel, and discovered Arthur’s Pass (named after himself) in crossing to Westland to survey and explore the coast from Grey River to Abut Head in 1863. He was assistant provincial engineer at Nelson in 1866, and was employed on the waterworks and in opening up the West Coast goldfields.