Rutherford's early life and work in New Zealand

摘要

When Ernest Rutherford left New Zealand in 1895, he was a highly skilled researcher with three degrees from the University of New Zealand and with two years of research at the forefront of the electrical technology of the day. The fourth child and second son of a family of 12, of whom three of his younger brothers died young, he had a standard rural upbringing. Both parents supported his education. He was lucky to have very good country schoolteachers, but his most influential teacher was Canterbury College’s Professor Bickerton who guided him into individual research. When Rutherford arrived in England he was the right man in the right place at the right time. This story of his early life and researches in New Zealand explains why he was the right man, covers his family and academic life, explains how, from several occasions during his early life and researches, we may never have heard of Ernest Rutherford, and why England was lucky to get him.