Rutherford and Russian Physics: the critical influence of the human factor

ABSTRACT

This study contributes to the insufficiently investigated subject of the perception of Ernest Rutherford in Russia. It also examines Rutherford’s impact, both as a scientist and as an outstanding New Zealander, on matters of freedom of science in Imperial Russia and in the early Soviet Union and on human factors during times of social stress and repression. The examples given are drawn from a range of unique primary sources, in particular private correspondence between Rutherford and his Russian students and interns such as G. Antonoff, K. Yakovleff, J. Szmidt, N. Shilov, P. Kapitsa and others, their letters, diaries, photos and publications about their experience of working with Rutherford, including those available in the Russian language only, previously unpublished or unknown to academia.

KEYWORDS:

• Rutherford and Russian science
• Nuclear Physics in Russia
• history of science
• Soviet academic freedom
• New Zealand-Russia relations

Acknowledgements

The author is especially thankful to Dr Tatiana Balakhovskaya (Director of the Kapitza Memorial Museum, Moscow), Academician Boris Stechkin (great-grandson of Nikolai Shilov), Associate Professor Rebecca Priestley (Victoria University of Wellington), Hon Margaret Austin (Patron and Trustee of Rutherford’s Den), Dr Valery Edelman (the P.L. Kapitza Institute for Physical Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences), Dr John Campbell (University of Canterbury), Professor Michael J Kelly (University of Cambridge), Dr Daniel Schumayer (University of Otago), Professor Dr Dirk van Delft (Leiden University), Professor Paul Moon (Auckland University of Technology) for the encouragement they gave her, stimulating discussions on the topic, and assistance in collecting various photographs, correspondence and other primary sources. She is grateful to her husband Ambassador (retired) Stuart Prior for the thoughtful comments on and critical improvements to her original text.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).