Aftermath – a personal view

ABSTRACT

This paper includes an eclectic mix of Rutherford as a statesman. He encouraged votes for women and women into science. His last paper was a report of heroic proportions which failed to detect any tritium in water, but later work showed it had a half-life of 12.3 years so it is now used for dating wines and the age of drinking water in underground reservoirs. Quick summaries are given of his death and burial. Ernest Rutherford’s honours accumulated even well after his death. His name is on a surprising array of things, from racehorses, buildings, beer, and an asteroid. Thus it is surprising that he was treated badly by much of New Zealand for some five decades after his death, and some continue to this today. As the first and only person who extensively used original archives to uncover the true story of ‘Earnest’ Rutherford I have an interesting perspective. Few scientists hold these views because they seldom deal with ‘normal’ people. However, the public perception of Rutherford grows with time as an older generation of ‘ordinary public’ die off.

KEYWORDS:

• Ernest Rutherford
• Rutherford eulogies
• death of Ernest Rutherford
• Continuing honours of Ernest Rutherford
• Birley painting of Ernest Rutherford
• New Zealand banknote
• New Zealand stamps

Disclosure statement

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