1932, Ernest Rutherford: Leader of big science

Lord Ernest Rutherford. (Alexander Turnbull Library)

For the fourth time we choose Ernest Rutherford as New Zealander of the Year; this time not so much for his epoch-making discoveries as for his abilities as a scientific leader and administrator.

He was by now the director of the Cavendish laboratory at Cambridge University and in 1932 researchers there - building on Rutherford's work - made two enormous discoveries.

James Chadwick proved the existence of the neutron, which Rutherford had previously predicted. Then, John Cockroft and Ernest Walton split the atom using a high-voltage accelerator.

"The age of big science had begun under Rutherford's guidance," writes John Campbell.

The Herald and New Zealanders generally had been slow to grasp the significance of Rutherford's work early in the century, but by the 1920s he was a household name and accorded celebrity status.

When he died in 1937, the Herald reflected the enormous pride felt by New Zealanders in his achievements even if some of them were beyond the comprehension of ordinary people.

He had, said the paper, conferred "a lasting lustre on this little country far from all the old seats of learning".

And it rejoiced that when he was elevated to the peerage he recognised his native land in the title he chose: Lord Rutherford of Nelson.

He reflected two of the qualities the Herald valued most in its ideal New Zealander: pragmatism and modesty.

"If the plain man be precluded from understanding [his work's] complexities, there is bound to be some practical outcome of it all," said an editorial. "By the exploits of pure science those of applied science multiply, in the service of life and even to push back a little further the veil over Nature is to fulfil a wholesome human instinct.

"And all can in this day of remem brance of a great man's labours nobly done recall how delightfully human he himself was. He bore all that weight of learning lightly as a flower.

"One of the hardest of workers, he was full of fun; his lectures had their technical details relieved by bright glints of humour ...

"One other recollection: to his mother, on the proudest day of all, he telegraphed - 'Now Lord Rutherford. Honour more yours than mine. Love Ernest'. There spoke a man New Zealanders are deeply glad to know their country gave to the world."

From the Herald archives:
'Rutherford's time bomb', NZ Herald online, 15 May 2004

Further reading:
Biography of Ernest Rutherford, Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand

Further viewing
'Rutherford of Nelson', New Zealand on Screen, 1972

Ernest Rutherford documentary, Nobelprize.org, 1935