Professor Ernest Rutherford, c mid-20th century

Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, born in the colony of New Zealand on 30 August 1871, died in Cambridge on 19 October 1937. Rutherford was a New Zealand physicist who pioneered atomic and nuclear physics. He is described at the 'father of nuclear physics'. He was born in Brightwater, New Zealand, the son of a Scottish and English immigrants. He won a scholarship to study at Nelson College, where he studied between 1887 and 1889, and was head boy in 1889. In 1889, he won a scholarship to study at Canterbury College, University of New Zealand, where he studied between 1890 and 1894. He obtained a BA in Latin, English and Maths in 1892, and an MA in Physical Sciences and Mathematics in 1893, and BSc in Chemistry and Geology in 1894. He invented a new form of radio receiver in 1895, and was awarded a Research Fellowship from the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, to travel to England for postgraduate study. He undertook this study at Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge. He was one of the first to be allowed to do research at Cambridge without a Cambridge degree. In 1897, he was awarded a BA Research Degree from Trinity College, Cambridge. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1908 "for his investigations into the disintegration of the elements, and the chemistry of radioactive substances." He was the first Oceanian Nobel laureate. Rutherford discovered the concept of radioactive half-life, the element radon, and the identification and categorisation of the difference between alpha and beta radiation. He married Mary Georgina Newton in 1900 in Christchurch. They had one daughter, Eileen Mary. He worked with Niels Bohr in 1912 and together worked on the Bohr-Rutherford model of the atom. He then began experiments in 1917 that led to him discovering the subatomic particle of the 'hydrogen atom', later renamed the proton. He, with Henry Moseley, created the atomic numbering system. He also helped advance the fields of radio communications and ultrasound technology. He became the Director of Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge in 1919, under his leadership James Chadwick discovered the neutron in 1932. The first controlled experiment to split the nucleus was performed under his directorship at the laboratory. He was honoured with a baronship by the United Kingdom due to his scientific achievements, becoming Baron of Nelson, and decorated his coat of arms with a kiwi and Māori warrior. He died in 1837 of intestinal paralysis as the result of an untreated hernia. He was buried in Westminster Abbey near Charles Darwin and Isaac Newton. He received many honours in his life, including being knighted in 1914, and appointed to the Order of Merit in 1925. He served as President of the Royal Society between 1925 to 1930. He later worked at the president of the Academic Assistance Council, helping 1,000 university refugees from Germany (who were expelled due to the Nazi party). The element rutherfordium, was named after him in 1997. Since 1992, his portrait has appeared on the New Zealand hundred dollar note.