Ernest Rutherford became one of the most famous scientists in history and he started life here in the Tasman District. Ernest Lord Rutherford, the man who became known as the 'Father of the atom' was born in Brightwater in 1871 and was one of twelve children born to James and Martha Rutherford.

His father worked as a wheelwright, engineer and flax miller and the family moved according to his work. Ernest's early schooling took place at Foxhill School, where he received his first science book. One of the experiments in it about using the speed of sound to determine the distance to a firing cannon gave him the knowledge to surprise his family by estimating the distance to a lightning flash.

It may also have been this book that inspired him to build a miniature cannon out of a hat peg, a marble and blasting powder. Unsurprisingly, it blew up - happily, without causing any injury.

The Rutherford family moved to Havelock where Ernest flourished at Havelock School with the help of the local teacher. In 1887, on his second attempt, Ernest won a scholarship to Nelson College. There he boarded for three years and in 1889 he became Dux of the School, which earned him the nickname 'Quacks'. On his second attempt he won a junior scholarship to The University of New Zealand, which he took at Canterbury College in Christchurch.

Rutherford completed a BA, an MA with double first class honours in Mathematics and Physical Sciences and a BSc in Chemistry and Geology during his years at Canterbury. He also started his own research into the high frequency magnetisation of iron. Rutherford continued to work on this invention after he was accepted to Cambridge University's Cavendish Laboratory in 1895. In 1896 he began to work on the conduction of electricity in gases and utilised the newly discovered radioactivity to aid this research. He named the two distinct rays emitted from radioactive material, alpha and beta particles.

In 1898 Ernest accepted a chair in Physics at McGill University in Montreal Canada. There he demonstrated the principle that went on to become the basis of the modern smoke detector. He discovered a radioactive gas, later to be called Radon. He explained radioactivity as the spontaneous disintegration of atoms for which he was awarded the 1908 Nobel Prize for Chemistry.

At the turn of the century Rutherford travelled back to New Zealand to marry Mary Georgina Newton, the daughter of his landlady in Christchurch. They went on to have one daughter, Eileen.

In 1907 it was back across the Atlantic to Manchester University from where in 1911, he determined the nuclear structure of atoms. In 1917 he split the atom, the work for which he is best known the world over.

During his lifetime he earned the titles Baron, Sir and Lord and undertook some of the most ground-breaking experiments of his generation. His was on an amazing journey of scientific discovery.

While Rutherford's career flourished he faced sadness with the death of his only daughter Eileen aged just 29. She died nine days after the birth of her fourth child in 1930, just two days before Christmas - a tragedy that overshadowed celebrations of his elevation to the House of Lords announced at New Year.

Rutherford died in 1937, aged 66 from complications arising from a strangulated hernia and his ashes are interred at Westminster Abbey among the great British Scientists. He was remembered not only as one of the best scientists of his generation but also by those who knew him as a big blustering noisy man, kind and much loved.

Lady Rutherford returned to New Zealand and lived in Christchurch until her death in 1954. Rutherford's legacy continues with many buildings named in his honour around the world, his face has appeared on stamps in Sweden, Russia, Canada and New Zealand and of course he graces our one hundred dollar note, a fitting memorial for a man who did so much to put science and New Zealand on the global map.

The birthplace of Tasman's most famous son is now fittingly marked but this wasn't always the case. The house Ernest was born in which stood on the site was demolished around 1921 and it wasn't until 1953 that an international fund raising effort was mounted to honour Rutherford's memory. The New Zealand appeal was opened with the erection of a rather modest concrete slab with a bronze plaque on the side of the road near his birthplace.

That was how things stayed until 1971, the centenary of Rutherford's birth when Professor Peter Fowler FRS, Rutherford's eldest grandson reported on the poor state of the site at a family gathering. The relatives undertook to raise the funds to help the Waimea County Council (now Tasman District Council) purchase the site in order to preserve it. However, after it was purchased there were no funds to build any kind of memorial so it was left alone for many years.

In the late 80s The Rutherford Birthplace Project was started by Dr John Campbell of Canterbury University, Ross Moore, the executive Officer of the Royal Society of New Zealand and Ken Shirley who was the local MP at the time. They offered to raise the money and do the work to build what they thought was a fitting memorial to New Zealand's most famous son. Sissons and Conway of Nelson did the landscape design and Baric Design, also from Nelson, made the display panels from information supplied by Dr Campbell who has made a comprehensive study of Rutherford's life and work.

After an investment of five hundred thousand dollars the site was ready for it's grand opening on 6 December 1991. It is now a tranquil haven where the story of Rutherford's life and work is told through a series of display panels and sound stations, all in a beautiful garden setting. At the top of the raised area of the site there is a small bronze statue of a child stepping out into the future.

The Tasman District Council now maintains the impressive, interactive memorial as a treasured reserve. If you haven't paid a visit yet, this unique international tourist site really is a must for locals and visitors alike and a great educational experience for the whole family. Rutherford's Birthplace is well signposted and is located just off the main highway in Brightwater, on Lord Rutherford Road, just 10 minutes drive from Richmond.

Milestones

1871 Born in Brightwater on August 30th
1877 The family moves to Foxhill where Ernest attends Foxhill School until 1883
1883 The family moves to Havelock in the Marlborough Sounds and Ernest continues his education at Havelock School until 1886
1887 Ernest wins a scholarship to Nelson College where he stays until 1889
1890-94 Attends Canterbury College on a University of New Zealand Junior Scholarship.
1892 Completes his BA
1893 Completes his MA with double First Class Honours in Mathematics,Mathematical
Physics and Physical Science.
1894 Completed BSc in Chemistry and Geology
1895 Awarded an Exhibition of 1851 Scholarship to go anywhere in the world to carry
out research of importance to New Zealand's industries.
1895- 98 Ernest uses the scholarship at the Cavendish Laboratory Cambridge University
1896 Sets a world record for the longest distance over which wireless? waves were
detected. He is also invited to work with JJ Thompson on electrical conduction
in gases, research which leads to the discovery of the electron, the first object
lighter than the atom.
1898 Rutherford discovers rays from radioactive materials are of two main types
which he names alpha and beta.
1898-1907 McDonald Chair of Physics at McGill University, Montreal, Canada
1899 Demonstrates the principle which is the basis of the modern smoke detector. In the same year he discovers a radioactive gas, later named radon.
1901 Receives a DSc from the University of New Zealand, now Doctor Rutherford
1902 Announces formally that radioactivity is a manifestation of sub-atomic charge.
1903 Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of London
1904 Awarded the Rumford Medal, his first major science prize
1907-19 Moves back to England and works at Manchester University
1908 Is awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry and invents the Rutherford-Geiger detector of single ionising particles.
1911 Announces the nuclear model for the atom
1914 Knighted. Now Sir Ernest Rutherford
1915-1917 Undertakes pioneer work on acoustic methods of detecting submarines to help in the First World War effort.
1917 Rutherford splits the atom by changing nitrogen into oxygen becoming the world's first successful alchemist.
1919-37 Returns to Cambridge University as the director of the Cavendish University
1919 Elected an inaugural Fellow of the New Zealand Institute, now the Royal Society of New Zealand.
1920 Predicts the existence of the Neutron
1925-30 President of the Royal Society of London
1925 Receives the Order of Merit
1929-37 Chairman of the Advisory Council of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research
1931 Raised to the peerage at New Year, now Ernest, Lord Rutherford of Nelson
1931- 33 President of the Institute of Physics
1933-37 President of the Academic Assistance Council
1937 Ernest Lord Rutherford of Nelson dies aged 66 on 19 October 1937. His ashes were interred at Westminster Abbey

Visit the Website; www.Rutherford.org.nz