Ernest Rutherford biography By Matthew

WALT: write a biography

Ernest Rutherford

Ernest was born on 30th August 1871 in Nelson, New Zealand. He is an illustrious scientist born in a family of 11 kids (five girls and six boys). Ernest was well educated thanks to his mother, Martha who was a school teacher. 

At the age of ten Ernest received his first science book. After many experiments he used the speed of sound to estimate the distance to a lightning bolt. The other thing Ernest accomplished was making a mini cannon out of a hat, peg, marble and blasting powder. For three years Ernest boarded at Nelson Collage and in1889 he was Head Boy. He won one of ten scholarships and was allowed to attend Canterbury College in Christchurch. In 1893 Ernest mastered mathematics, Latin, English, French, art and physics (electricity and magnetism). Ernest then decided to stay a little longer and he mastered geology and chemistry. Also while at University Ernest showed that he could take the energy out of a steel needle into a discharged circuit to make the power of five hundred million volts.

Ernest Rutherford left New Zealand at twenty three to go to Cambridge in England. Rutherford managed to increase the electromagnetic wave over several hundred meters and it still worked with a brick wall in front. While at Cambridge Rutherford also helped JJ Thompson to find something smaller than an atom (an electron). Ernest understood the radioactive atom so radioactivity became his job. 

In 1898 Ernest Rutherford discovered that two quite separate types of emission came from atoms and he named them alpha and beta rays. Beta rays were soon shown to be high sped electrons. 

Rutherford returned to New Zealand to marry Mary Newton and had one child, Eileen. Rutherford then went to Canada. While in Canada he published his first book on radioactivity and in 1908 was awarded the Nobel Prize. In 1909 Ernest moved to Manchester to work. Many people tried to put up his pay to keep him working for them.Ernest Rutherford worked with Hans Geinger and in 1910 Ernest Rutherford and Hans Geinger split the atoms. Only three months after splitting the atom Ernest Rutherford made a machine so that if something hit it, it would bounce back. This experiment helped Ernest to find out that five million atoms side by side would not even be a little full stop. 

Rutherford was knighted in 1914 and went to Australia and New Zealand to have scientific meetings. Just before Ernest arrived in Australia, war was declared. After three months Ernest was asked to help Britain in the war. He joined a group of scientists. The scientists studied inventions and researched one of their tasks w to try and determine submarines under the water. One of the experiments included a seal lion from a circus.

In 1917 when the Americans ended the war Ernest lent his ideas to them. His next accomplishment was when he converted nitrogen atoms in oxygen atoms. 

Sadly his wife Mary died just twenty-nine days after birth and two before christmas in 1930. Soon after Mary’s death Ernest became Lord Rutherford of Nelson. He campaigned for Cambridge University to grant women to have the same privileges as men. In 1933 when Hitler rose to power in Germany, Rutherford was asked to become the president of the Academic Assistance Council which for short was called the AAC. THIs was for a group of scientists from Europe and America. They made things to Help the soldiers in the war.

Lord Rutherford died age sixty-six on the 19th October 1937 nobody Knows how or why he died. All of Rutherford’s medals, trophies and even his Nobel Prize went to the University of Canterbury. Many people named buildings and places after Ernest Rutherford. He has appeared on four different countries stamps. On a Swedish stamp in 1968, a Canadian stamp in 1971, Russian stamp in 1971 and a New Zealand stamp in 1972 curiously he never featured on the British stamp.

In November 1992 he featured on New Zealand’s one hundred dollar note. Lord Rutherford of Nelson was buried in West Minister Abbey Which is one of the most famous places to be buried in the world, so it amazing to have a New Zealand there.       

By Matthew