Abstract: | Rutherford was the greatest experimental physicist since Faraday. He had the most astonishing insight into physical processes, and in a few remarks he would illuminate a whole subject. He liked his physics and his experiments simple and described his work in simple and concise language. Rutherford’s discovery of the atomic nucleus had solved the mystery of the matter which had troubled the world’s great philosophers for centuries. He is to the atom what Darwin is to evolution, Newton to mechanics, Faraday to electricity and Einstein to relativity. These are a few remarks made about Rutherford by his students and colleagues. |