Record

Authorised form of nameRutherford; Ernest (1871 - 1937); Baron Rutherford of Nelson
Dates1871 - 1937
NationalityNew Zealand
Place of birthSpring Grove [Brightwater, New Zealand]
Date of birth30 August 1871
Place of deathCambridge, Cambridgeshire, England
Date of death19/10/1937
Dates and placesBurial:
Westminster Abbey, London (ashes)
Research fieldPhysics
Chemistry
ActivityEducation:
Nelson College, New Zealand (Marlborough Education Board Scholarship) (1887-1889); Canterbury College, Christchuch (1890-1894). BA, BSc, MA (Hons), DSc (University of New Zealand); BA (Cambridge); BSc (McGill, ad eudem)
Career:
Worked as a relieving teacher, Christchurch Boys High School (1894); won a scholarship as a research student in England and went to work with J J Thompson (FRS 1884), Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge; Professor, McGill University, Montreal, Canada (1898); worked on radioactivity with Frederick Soddy (FRS 1910); moved to Manchester University, England (1907); worked on acoustic detection of submarines (during World War 1); Director, Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, where he split the atom (1919); helped to found, and was President of, the Academic Assistance Council to aid displaced academics (1933); received about 32 Honorary doctorates; his honours included 34 medals, and Honorary Fellowships of many societies; his picture appeared on $100 (NZ) note (went into circulation 1992) Had little patience with left wing politics or with theoretical speculation generally. His accent was said to be a combination of West Country and Cockney.
Medals and prizes:
Nobel Prize (Chemistry) 1908
Honours:
Kt 1914; OM 1925; Baron 1931
Memberships:
Hon RSNZ (1904); FInstP (president 1931-1933)
Membership categoryFellow
Date of election11/06/1903
Royal Society activityRoyal Society roles:
PRS 1925-1930; VP 1922-1923
Medals and prizes:
Rumford Medal 1904; Copley Medal 1922
Lectures:
Bakerian 1904 and 1920
RelationshipsSon of James Rutherford, wheelwright, engineer and flax miller, and his wife Martha Thompson; married (1900, New Zealand) Mary Georgina Newton, daughter of his landlady in Christchurch; one daughter, Eileen, born 1901; she married Ralph Fowler (FRS 1925); grandfather of Peter Fowler (FRS 1964)
General contextIn the Rutherford Memorial Lecture by E Marsden (1948), published in the Physical Society, 1954, on page 49 it is mentioned that in his childhood, while at Nelson College, he returned home 'to take his full share of housefhold and garden chores at home and helped his father and his eldest brother George in the sawmilling and flaxmilling operations......He spent periods of his holiday with relatives earning pin money by hop-picking. It was on such a visit that he carved the potato-masher for his grandmother which is now held by the Royal Society.'
SourcesSources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB; DSB; DNZB; www.rutherford.org.nz
Obituaries:
Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society 1936-1938 vol 2 pp 395-423, plate, by A S Eve and J Chadwick
References:
Sir Harold Hartley, 'The Ramsay Centenary' in NR 1953 vol 10 pp 71-80
Derek J Price, 'The Cavendish Laboratory Archives' in NR 1953 vol 10 pp 139-147
C T R Wilson, 'Reminiscences of My Early Years' in NR 1959 vol 14 pp 163-173
E N da C Andrade, 'Some Reminiscences of Ernest Marsden's Days with Rutherford at Manchester' in NR 1968 vol 23 pp 247-250
Sir Mark Oliphant, 'Some Personal Recollections of Rutherford, the Man' in NR 1972-3 vol 27 pp 7-23
Sir Harrie Massey, 'Nuclear Physics Today and in Rutherford's Day' in NR 1972-3 vol 27 pp 25-44
N Feather, 'Rutherford - Faraday - Newton' in NR 1972-3 vol 27 pp 45-55
Lord Blackett, 'Rutherford' in NR 1972-3 vol 27 pp 57-59
W Bennett Lewis, 'Some Recollections and Reflections on Rutherford' in NR 1972-3 vol 27 pp 61-63
Sir Nevill Mott, 'Rutherford and Theory' in NR 1972-3 vol 27 pp 65-66
P P O'Shea, 'Ernest Rutherford, his Honours and Distinctions' in NR 1972-3 vol 27 pp 67-74
J B Adams, 'Four Generations of Nuclear Physicists' in NR 1972-3 vol 27 pp 75-94, plate
Anon., 'Rutherford Centenary Celebrations' in NR 1972-3 vol 27 p 5, plate
J W Boag and D Shoenberg (trans and eds), 'Letters from Kapitza to his Mother, 1921-27' in NR 1988 vol 42 pp 205-228
Sir Rudolf Peierls, 'Rutherford and Bohr' in NR 1988 vol 42 pp 229-241
S Devons, 'Rutherford and the Science of His Day' in NR 1991 vol 45 pp 221-242, plate
Robin J H Clark and Michael J Kelly, 'New Zealand, New Zealanders and the Royal Society' in NR 1994 vol 48 pp 263-281
Allan R Mackintosh, 'The Crocodile and the Elephant: Rutherford, Bohr and Quantum Physics' in NR 1997 vol 51 pp 309-316, plate
G V R Born, FRS, 'The wide-ranging family history of Max Born' in NR 2002 vol 56 pp 219-262
R W Home, 'The Royal Society and the Empire: the colonial and Commonwealth Fellowship. Part 1. 1731-1847' in NR 2002 vol 56 pp 307-332
P Fara, ' Big bangs. Invisible rays: a history of radioactivity' by G I Brown
R W Home, 'The Royal Society and the Empire: the colonial and Commonwealth Fellowship. Part 2. After 1847' in NR 2003 vol 57 pp 47-84
R Singh and F Riess, 'The nobel laureate Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman FRS and his contacts with the British Scientific community in a social and political context' in NR 2004 vol 58 pp 47-64
Neil Todd, 'A Brief History of Lord Rutherford's Radium' in NR 2014, vol 68, no3, pp 279-300
E Marsden 'Rutherford, by those who knew him' in Physical Society, 1954. Report of Rutherford Memorial Lecture (1948)

Notes:
Mistakenly registered in the birth records in New Zealand as 'Earnest'
Virtual International Authority Filehttp://viaf.org/viaf/66546175
Royal Society codeNA8278
Archives associated with this Fellow
Reference numberTitleDate
IM/003948Rutherford, Ernest, Baron Rutherford of Nelsonnd
PB/9/1/25Correspondence with Sir James Chadwick1971
PB/7/2/4/17/1Correspondence re European Physical Society Conference, 19691969
PB/8/25Rutherford Memorial Lecture, 1954.1954
PB/7/2/4/19Rutherford Centenary Celebrations, Moscow, August 19711971
NLB/64/697Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir John Rose Bradford, K.C.M.G FRS4 June 1923
PB/8/47/3'Rutherford Celebration, 1961'1961
NLB/63/227Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS20 July 1922
MM/18/24BLetter from David Chilton Phillips, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford to Ronald Keay12 April 1979
IM/003947Rutherford, Ernest, Baron Rutherford of Nelsonnd
MM/18/26Letter from William Lawrence Bragg to Ernest Rutherford5 May 1929
PB/8/36/2Background material1958
MM/18/32Letter from EA Crutchley, Cambridge University Press, to J Griffith Davies, Assistant Secretary, Royal Society9 June 1939
MM/18/24ALetter from Mark Oliphant to David Martin, Executive Secretary, Royal Society23 November 1971
MM/18/25Letter from William Lawrence Bragg to Ernest Rutherford3 June 1929
PB/2/7/5/3Photocopy of letter from Blackett to Rutherford telling Rutherford of his decision to move from Manchester to take up the Langworthy Chair of Physics.5 July 1937
PB/8/36/3Background material.1958
PB/2/7/10/1Correspondence with Ronald G Stansfield, re technique of scintillation-counting in the early 1920s.February 1972
PB/8/63Speech of welcome to Piotr and Anna Kapitza at Royal Society when Kapitza gave lecture on recollections of Rutherford, May 1966.1966
IM/007123Rutherford, Ernest, Baron Rutherford of Nelsonnd
IM/007122Rutherford, Ernest, Baron Rutherford of Nelsonnd
NLB/40/608Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Professor E [Ernest] Rutherford FRS5 July 1909
PB/8/36/1Offprint of published version of Blackett's Rutherford Memorial Lecture.1947-1958
NLB/29/663Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Ernest Rutherford, Fellow of the Royal Society22 November 1904
NLB/29/797Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Ernest Rutherford, Fellow of the Royal Society12 December 1904
RR/15/109Referee's report by George Francis Fitzgerald, on a paper 'Energy of rontgen & becquerel rays and the energy required to produce an ion in gases' by Professor Ernest Rutherford and R K McClung11 July 1900
RR/15/110Referee's report by Professor Oliver Joseph Lodge, on a paper 'Energy of rontgen & becquerel rays and the energy required to produce an ion in gases' by Professor Ernest Rutherford and R K McClung3 August 1900
RR/16/123Referee's report by Ernest Rutherford, on a paper 'The photo-electric discharge between metallic surfaces' by W Mansergh VarleyJune 1903
NLB/21/327Copy letter from Michael Foster, to Professor Ernest Rutherford, [Fellow of the Royal Society] and R K McClung1 November 1900
NLB/21/11Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Arthur Schuster, Fellow of the Royal Society16 July 1900
NLB/21/35Copy letter from an unknown correspondent, to Professor George Carey Foster, Fellow of the Royal Society18 July 1900
NLB/21/227Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Ernest Rutherford, and R K McClung, McGill University, Montreal1 October 1900
NLB/21/238Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Ernest Rutherford, Macdonald Physics Building, McGill University, Montreal, Canada8 October 1900
NLB/23/2/548Copy letter from Joseph Larmor, to Professor Ernest Rutherford, Fellow of the Royal Society3 November 1904
NLB/35/408Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Messrs Harrison & Sons30 May 1907
NLB/29/738Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Ernest Rutherford, Fellow of the Royal Society5 December 1904
NLB/32/421Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Ernest Rutherford, Fellow of the Royal Society27 February 1906
NLB/33/677Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Ernest Rutherford, Fellow of the Royal Society, McGill University19 October 1906
NLB/35/821Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Ernest Rutherford, Fellow of the Royal Society19 July 1907
NLB/35/723Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Lord Rayleigh [John William Strutt], President, Royal Society10 July 1907
NLB/35/407Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Messrs Harrison & Sons30 March 1907
NLB/35/653Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Ernest Rutherford, Fellow of the Royal Society27 June 1907
MC/31/177Letter from [Ernest] Rutherford, 17 Wilmslow Road, Withington, Manchester, to [Robert] Harrison, [Royal Society]9 December 1916
NLB/39/721Copy letter from Archibald Geikie to Professor [Ernest] Rutherford27 February 1909
NLB/41/571Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Ernest Rutherford, Fellow of the Royal Society15 January 1910
NLB/50/224Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Sir Ernest Rutherford, Fellow of the Royal Society26 May 1914
NLB/41/669Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor [Ernest] Rutherford, Fellow of the Royal Society1 February 1910
NLB/43/44/1Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Ernest Rutherford, Fellow of the Royal Society27 October 1910
NLB/43/245Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Ernest Rutherford, Fellow of the Royal Society29 November 1910
NLB/44/356Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Professor E [Ernest] Rutherford FRS 27 June 1911
NLB/62/424Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS13 February 1922
NLB/46/308Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor [Ernest] Rutherford, Fellow of the Royal Society9 July 1912
NLB/46/380Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor [Ernest] Rutherford, Fellow of the Royal Society23 July 1912
NLB/48/362Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor [Ernest] Rutherford, Fellow of the Royal Society20 June 1913
NLB/48/258Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to the Gassiot Committee (Professor [Ernest] Rutherford, Fellow of the Royal Society)4 June 1913
NLB/50/243Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Sir Ernest Rutherford, Fellow of the Royal Society29 May 1914
NLB/50/160Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Sir Ernest Rutherford, Fellow of the Royal Society11 May 1914
MC/26/232Letter from [Ernest] Rutherford, 17 Wilmslow, Withington, Manchester, to [Robert] Harrison, [Royal Society]19 September 1911
NLB/52/6Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society to Sir Ernest Rutherford FRS14 July 1915
NLB/60/13Copy letter from Edwin Deller, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS2 December 1920
NLB/60/383Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS20 January 1921
NLB/54/83Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS5 February 1917
RR/23/49Referee's report by Ernest Rutherford, on a paper 'The genesis of pleochroic haloes' by John JolyJune 1916
RR/18/159Referee's report by Ernest Rutherford, on a paper 'A theory of the chemical action of the electric discharge in electrolytic gas' by P J Kirkby[December 1910]
NLB/54/441Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to [Messrs Harrison & Sons]17 May 1917
NLB/54/832Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS15 October 1917
RR/24/53Referee's report by Ernest Rutherford, on a paper 'The composition of the x-rays from various metals' by George William Clarkson Kaye[March 1917]
RR/29/46Referee's report by Ernest Rutherford, on a paper 'On the effect of X-rays of different wave-lengths upon some animal tissues. Proof of differential action' by Sidney RussMay 1923
RR/13/108Note by Ernest Rutherford, on his paper 'A magnetic detector of electrical waves and some of its applications' 1896
RR/32/113Referee's report by Ernest Rutherford, on a paper 'The atomic disintegration of nitrogen in vacuum tubes' by R W Riding and Edward Charles Cyril Baly25 June 1925
MS/929/1/170Letter from Ernest Rutherford, FRS, 17 Wimslow Road, Withington, Manchester, to James Mackenzie Davidson1 January 1912
MS/929/1/174Letter from Ernest Rutherford, FRS, 17 Wimslow Road, Withington, Manchester, to James Mackenzie Davidson3 June 1914
MS/929/1/169Letter from Ernest Rutherford, FRS, Physical Laboratories, the University of Manchester, to James Mackenzie Davidson20th century
MS/929/1/171Letter from Ernest Rutherford, FRS, 17 Wimslow Road, Withington, Manchester, to James Mackenzie Davidson4 March 1912
MS/929/1/168Letter from Ernest Rutherford, FRS, 17 Wimslow Road, Withington, Manchester, to James Mackenzie Davidson7 May 1909
NLB/58/631Copy letter from Edwin Deller, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS31 May 1920
NLB/63/738Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS08 December 1922
NLB/58/88Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS12 March 1920
NLB/58/450Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS6 May 1920
NLB/58/537Copy letter from Edwin Deller, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS18 May 1920
NLB/58/578Copy letter from Edwin Deller, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS26 May 1920
MS/929/1/173Letter from Ernest Rutherford, FRS, 17 Wimslow Road, Withington, Manchester, to James Mackenzie Davidson12 March 1912
NLB/62/353Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS31 January 1922
NLB/57/230Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to unknown correspondent22 September 1919
NLB/61/363Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS23 June 1921
RR/13/106Referee's report by Oliver Joseph Lodge, on a paper 'A magnetic detector of electrical waves and some of its applications' by Ernest RutherfordJune 1896
RR/13/107Referee's report by Charles Vernon Boys, on a paper 'A magnetic detector of electrical waves and some of its applications' by Ernest RutherfordJuly 1896
NLB/58/405Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS30 April 1920
RR/16/226Referee's report by William Cecil Dampier Whetham, on the Bakerian Lecture 'The succession of changes in radio-active bodies' by Ernest RutherfordAugust 1904
NLB/60/146Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS14 December 1920
NLB/60/111Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS10 December 1920
NLB/60/463Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS10 February 1921
RR/28/38Referee's report by Ernest Rutherford, Baron Rutherford of Nelson, on a paper 'On the scattering of ß-rays' by Harold Albert Wilson27 May 1922
NLB/60/202Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS22 December 1920
NLB/61/822Copy letter from Frederick Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS1 November 1921
RR/47/47Referee's report by Ernest Rutherford, on a paper 'Velocity of propagation of light in vacuo in a transverse magnetic field' by Clinton Coleridge Farr and C J BanwellMay 1932
NLB/60/723Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS19 March 1921
NLB/64/639Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS18 May 1923
MS/928/6/3/5Letter from Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, Celyn, Nant Gwynant, Carnarvon [Caernarfon], to Andrew Russell Forsyth5 January [February?] 1931
NLB/60/864Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS; Newnham Cottage, Queen's Road, Cambridge19 April 1921
NLB/61/208Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS2 June 1921
NLB/61/278Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS16 June 1921
NLB/57/606Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS15 December 1919
NLB/61/770Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS21 October 1921
NLB/61/700Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS13 October 1921
NLB/61/20Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS20 April 1921
NLB/57/593Copy letter from Sir James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to the Director [Sir Joseph Ernest Petavel, FRS, KBE], the National Physical Laboratory12 December 1919
NLB/63/50Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society and FRS; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS17 June 1922
RR/57/59Referee's report by Ernest Rutherford, Baron Rutherford of Nelson, on a paper 'The structure of atomic nuclei' by Harold Albert Wilson[October 1935]
RR/58/10Referee's report by Ernest Rutherford, on a paper 'Time effects in the magnetic cooling method-I' by W Heitler and E TellerApril 1936
NLB/71/30Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to the Regsitrar, Institute of Chemistry, 20 Russell Sqaure, WC19 December 1927
RR/59/84Referee's report by Ernest Rutherford, Baron Rutherford of Nelson, on a paper 'Time effects in the magnetic cooling method II—the conductivity of heat' by Herbert Fröhlich and Walter Heinrich Heitler[1936]
RR/62/100Referee's report by Ernest Rutherford, Baron Rutherford of Nelson, on a paper 'The calculation of atomic weights from nuclear reaction energies' by Harold Albert Wilson[January 1936]
NLB/63/558Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society and FRS; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS04 November 1922
MS/929/1/166Letter from Ernest Rutherford, FRS, Grand Hotel Perdi, Rapallo, to James Mackenzie Davidson4 April 1909
RR/61/53Referee's report by Ernest Rutherford, on a paper 'The energy loss of cosmic ray particles in metal plates' by Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett and J Gordon WilsonApril 1937
NLB/63/23Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society and FRS; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS14 June 1922
NLB/62/831Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS17 May 1922
NLB/65/393Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford [Baron Rutherford of Nelson], FRS26 October 1923
NLB/63/200Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS13 July 1922
NLB/63/810Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society and FRS; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS22 December 1922
NLB/57/886Copy letter from Sir James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS27 February 1920
NLB/57/707Copy letter from Sir James Hopwood Jeans, FRS, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford [Baron Rutherford of Nelson], FRS [PRS]23 January 1920
NLB/63/711Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS05 December 1922
NLB/64/596Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS09 May 1923
NLB/66/37Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS12 February 1924
NLB/63/478Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Sidney Harmer, K.B.E., FRS26 October 1922
NLB/65/17Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Professor Sir Ernest Rutherford [Baron Rutherford of Nelson], FRS13 July 1923
NLB/65/736Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Lord Rayleigh [Robert John Strutt], FRS14 December 1923
NLB/65/159Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Lord Rayleigh [Robert John Strutt], FRS28 August 1923
NLB/64/816Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford FRS.25 June 1923
NLB/64/684Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Dr [Arthur] Harden, FRS2 June 1923
NLB/68/48Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to the Sales Manager; the Gaumont Co. Ltd., 5 Sherwood Street, W.1.4 May 1925
NLB/66/17Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS7 February 1924
NLB/64/883Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS and all members of the Yarrow Fund Management Committee.6 July 1923
NLB/65/570Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Lord Rayleigh [Robert John Strutt], FRS22 November 1923
NLB/71/371Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, O.M., President of the Royal Society26 April 1928
NLB/65/662Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Lord Rayleigh [Robert John Strutt], FRS5 December 1923
NLB/65/558Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Richard [Tetley] Glazebrook, FRS20 November 1923
NLB/66/167Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS6 March 1924
NLB/67/547Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir William [Henry] Bragg, FRS20 January 1925
NLB/66/225Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS20 March 1924
NLB/66/141Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to [Patrick Maynard Stuart] Blackett, Esq., King's College, Cambridge28 February 1924
NLB/66/299Copy letter from [William Bate Hardy, Secretary] of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS4 April 1924
NLB/66/333Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to [Robert John Strutt] Lord Rayleigh, FRS10 April 1924
NLB/71/654Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, O.M., President of the Royal Society26 September 1928
NLB/67/526Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS15 January 1925
NLB/66/515Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to the Secretary, The Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, USA.21 May 1924
NLB/66/770Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS4 July 1924
NLB/66/283Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; [Robert John Strutt] Lord Rayleigh, FRS2 April 1924
NLB/68/238Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, OM, FRS4 June 1925
NLB/67/926Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, OM, FRS8 April 1925
NLB/68/34Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, OM, FRS1 May 1925
NLB/69/265Copy letter from Henry Hallett Dale, Secretary of the Royal Society; to the Hon. Secretary, The Anglo-French Lunchon Club, 134 Whitehall Court, S.W.118 February 1926
NLB/66/552Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS29 May 1924
NLB/69/283Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to to Sir Ernest Rutherford, O.M. FRS22 February 1926
NLB/69/580Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Willliam Bragg, FRS11 June 1926
NLB/69/644Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, O.M., President of the Royal Society9 July 1926
NLB/69/931Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to the Consulting Engineer, Hydro-Electric Power Commisssion, 190 University Avenue, Toronto, Canada19 November 1926
NLB/71/28Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to the Registrar, Royal College of Physicians, Pall Mall East, SW19 December 1927
NLB/70/882Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, OM, President of the Royal Society29 October 1927
NLB/71/391Copy letter from Sir Ernest Rutherford, O.M., President of the Royal Society; to Prof. L. Guillet, Membre de l'Institut30 April 1928
NLB/70/851Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, President of the Royal Society17 October 1927
NLB/72/38Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, OM, FRS26 January 1929
NLB/71/583Copy letter from David Prain, Treasurer of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, O.M., President of the Royal Society12 July 1928
NLB/72/155Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, OM, President of the Royal Society26 April 1929
NLB/71/195Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; [to the organisers of the funeral of Prof. Hendrik Antoon Lorentz]7 February 1928
NLB/71/977Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, O.M., President of the Royal Society2 January 1929
NLB/72/541Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to the Registrary; Cambridge University6 December 1929
NLB/72/969Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, OM, President of the Royal Society30 September 1930
CD/21/9Letter from [James Hopwood Jeans], the Royal Society, to Ernest Rutherford28 February 1924
CD/21/13Letter from [James Hopwood Jeans], the Royal Society, to Ernest Rutherford4 April 1924
NLB/68/915Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to [Ralph Howard] Fowler Esq., FRS30 November 1925
NLB/66/133Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to [Robert John Strutt] Lord Rayleigh.28 February 1924
MOB/070Potato masher by Ernest Rutherfordc.1888
EC/1903/10Rutherford, Ernest, Baron Rutherford of Nelson: certificate of election to the Royal Society
PB/7/2/4/17European Physical Society1969
IM/003950Rutherford, Ernest, Baron Rutherford of Nelsonnd
NLB/13/654Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Richard Tetley Glazebrook, Fellow of the Royal Society27 October 1896
RR/16/225Referee's report by Joseph Larmor, on the Bakerian Lecture 'The succession of changes in radio-active bodies' by Ernest Rutherford25 August 1904
RR/20/60Referee's report by Ernest Rutherford, on a paper 'On the electrical emissivity and disintegration of hot metals' by John Allen Harker and George William Clarkson KayeMay 1913
NLB/44/413Copy letter from Joseph Larmor to Professor E [Ernest] Rutherford FRS7 July 1911
NLB/51/802Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society to Sir Ernest Rutherford FRS3 July 1915
NLB/66/55Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS14 February 1924
MS/929/1/165Letter from Ernest Rutherford, FRS, 17 Wimslow Road, Withington, Manchester, to James Mackenzie Davidson2 March 1909
NLB/65/722Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society12 December 1923
NLB/71/597Copy letter from David Prain, Treasurer of the Royal Society; to Mrs. Ludlow-Hewitt17 July 1928
NLB/64/677Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to [Robert John Strutt] Lord Rayleigh FRS31 May 1923
NLB/66/140Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Ernest Rutherford, FRS28 February 1924
NLB/66/168Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to [Robert John Strutt] Lord Rayleigh, FRS6 March 1924
IM/003952Rutherford, Ernest, Baron Rutherford of Nelsonnd
NLB/35/749Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Ernest Rutherford, Fellow of the Royal Society12 July 1907
NLB/40/308Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Professor E [Ernest] Rutherford FRS 24 May 1909
AV/3/9Film about Lord Rutherford December 1935
NLB/58New Letter Book volume 58, copy letters sent from Royal Society administration28 February 1920-9 July 1920
NLB/61New Letter Book volume 61, copy letters sent from Royal Society administration26 April 1921-11 November 1921
NLB/66/506Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; [Robert John Strutt] Lord Rayleigh, FRS20 May 1924
NLB/66/878Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to [Robert John Strutt] Lord Rayleigh, FRS1 August 1924
NLB/66/799Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to [Robert John Strutt] Lord Rayleigh, FRS11 July 1924
IM/003953Album of visit on 29 October 1971 to Rutherford High Energy Lab29 October 1971
MC/37/4Letter from [Edward Neville da Costa] Andrade, the Physics Branch, Artillery College, Woolwich, S.E.18., to The Secretary, The Royal Society, Burlington House, Piccadilly, W.17 April 1923
P/0112Portrait of Rutherford, Ernest; Baron Rutherford 1932
NLB/52New Letter Book volume 52, copy letters sent from Royal Society administration9 July 1915-8 March 1916
NLB/57New Letter Book volume 57, copy letters sent from Royal Society administration27 June 1919-27 February 1920
RR/19/23Referee's report by Ernest Rutherford, Baron Rutherford of Nelson, on a paper 'Note on a shield to protect the eyes against x-rays and other radiations of great intensity' by George James Burch[January 1912]
RR/19/76Referee's report by Ernest Rutherford, Baron Rutherford of Nelson, on a paper 'The observation by means of a string electrometer of fluctuations in the ionisation produced by ?-rays' by Thomas Howell Laby and P W Burbidge[February 1912]
RR/57/71Referee's report by Ernest Rutherford, Baron Rutherford of Nelson, on a paper 'On certain fundamental frequencies and energy constants' by Herbert Stanley Allen26 May 1936
RR/61/108Referee's report by Ernest Rutherford, on a paper 'Equilibrium curve and entropy difference between the supraconductive and the normal state in Pb, Hg, Sn, Ta, and Nb' by J G Daunt and K Mendelssohn17 February 1937
NLB/38/192Copy telegram from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to [Ernest] Rutherford, [Fellow of the Royal Society], University, Manchester[June 1908]
MC/23/406Letter from [Ernest] Rutherford, Physical Laboratories, The University, Manchester, to [Robert] Harrison, [Royal Society]9 March 1908
NLB/37/382Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Professor E [Ernest] Rutherford, Fellow of the Royal Society10 March 1908
MC/23/407Letter from [Ernest] Rutherford, Physical Laboratories, The University, Manchester, to [Joseph] Larmor, [Royal Society]25 June 1908
MC/23/408Letter from [Ernest] Rutherford, Physical Laboratories, The University, Manchester, to [Robert] Harrison, [Assistant Secretary] Royal Society16 July 1908
MC/23/409Letter from [Ernest] Rutherford, Physical Laboratories, The University, Manchester, to the [Royal Society]25 November 1908
MC/19/718Letter from Ernest Rutherford, The Macdonald Physics Building, McGill University, Montreal, to [Joseph] Larmor19 January 1904
NLB/41/159Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Ernest Rutherford, Fellow of the Royal Society26 October 1909
MC/24/141Letter from [Ernest] Rutherford, 17 Wilmslow Road, Withington, Manchester, to [Joseph] Larmor, [Royal Society]13 March 1909
MC/24/143Letter from [Ernest] Rutherford, 17 Wilmslow Road, Withington, Manchester, to [Joseph] Larmor, [Royal Society]2 November 1909
MC/24/142Letter from [Ernest] Rutherford, 17 Wilmslow Road, Withington, Manchester, to [Robert] Harrison, [Assistant] Secretary, [Royal Society]23 October 1909
MC/19/720Letter from Ernest Rutherford, The Macdonald Physics Building, McGill University, Montreal, to [Joseph] Larmor, Secretary of the Royal Society13 November 1904
MC/19/719Letter from Ernest Rutherford, McGill University, Montreal, to [Robert William Frederick] Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society7 August 1904
MC/25/211Letter from [Ernest] Rutherford, 17 Wilmslow Road, Withington, Manchester, to [Joseph] Larmor, [Royal Society] 30 January 1910
MC/26/231Letter from [Ernest] Rutherford, 17 Wilmslow, Withington, Manchester, to [Joseph] Larmor, [Royal Society]1 February 1911
NLB/44/597Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison [signed by Theodore E James] to Professor E [Ernest] Rutherford FRS 20 September 1911
MC/22/369Letter from [Ernest] Rutherford, The Victoria, University of Manchester, to [Robert William Frederick] Harrison26 June 1907
MC/20/332Letter from [Ernest] Rutherford, McGill University, Montreal, The Macdonald Physics Building, to [Robert William Frederick] Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society25 December 1904
NLB/29/905Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Ernest Rutherford, Fellow of the Royal Society10 January 1905
MC/28/193Letter from Letter from [Ernest William] MacBride, Imperial College of Science and Technology, Royal College of Science, South Kensington, London, S.W, to Mr [Robert] Harrison, [Royal Society]6 October 1913
MC/28/192Letter from Letter from [Ernest William] MacBride, Imperial College of Science and Technology, Royal College of Science, South Kensington, London, S.W, to Sir John [Rose] Bradford, [Royal Society]6 October 1913
MC/29/203Letter from JN Pring, The University, Manchester, to The Assistant Secretary, The Royal Society, Burlington House, W28 March 1914
MC/29/134Letter from Thomas Hill & Co, Law & General, 33 Chancery Lane, London, W.C, to The Assistant Secretary, The Royal Society24 March 1914
MC/19Volume 19 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society1904
MC/20Volume 20 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society1905
MC/29/222Letter from [Ernest] Rutherford, 17 Wilmslow Road, Withington, Manchester, to [Arthur] Schuster, [Royal Society]31 January 1914
MC/29/223Letter from [Ernest] Rutherford, 17 Wilmslow Road, Withington, Manchester, to Robert Harrison, [Royal Society]9 May 1914
MC/30/176Letter from [Ernest] Rutherford, 17 Wilmslow Road, Withington, Manchester, to The Assistant Secretary, The Royal Society25 January 1915
MC/30/177Letter from [Ernest] Rutherford, 17 Wilmslow Road, Withington, Manchester, to[Robert] Harrison, [Royal Society]5 July 1915
MC/31/175Letter from [Ernest] Rutherford, 17 Wilmslow Road, Withington, Manchester, to [Robert] Harrison, Burlington House, W2 December 1916
MC/31/176Letter from [Ernest] Rutherford, 17 Wilmslow Road, Withington, Manchester, to [Robert] Harrison, [Royal Society]5 December 1916
MC/32/224Letter from [Ernest] Rutherford, 17 Wilmslow Road, Withington, Manchester, to Mr [Robert] Harrison, [Royal Society]6 October 1917
MC/22Volume 22 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society1907
MC/36Volume 36 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society1922
MC/36/87Letter from [Ernest] Rutherford, Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, to the Royal Society19 July 1922
MC/36/88Letter from [Ernest] Rutherford, Newnham Cottage, Queen's Road, Cambridge, to [James Hopwood] Jeans6 September 1922
Add to My Items

    Collection highlights

    Browse the records of some of our collections, which cover all branches of science and date from the 12th century onwards. These include the published works of Fellows of the Royal Society, personal papers of eminent scientists, letters and manuscripts sent to the Society or presented at meetings, and administrative records documenting the Society's activities since our foundation in 1660.

    The Royal Society

    The Royal Society is a Fellowship of many of
    the world's most eminent scientists and is the
    oldest scientific academy in continuous existence.
    Registered charity number 207043

    Website design ©CalmView



    CONTACT US

    + 44 207 451 2500
    (Lines open Mon-Fri, 9:00-17:00. Excludes bank holidays)

    6-9 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AG

    Email Us →

    SUBSCRIBE

    Subscribe to our newsletters to be updated with the
    latest news on innovation, events, articles and reports.

    Subscribe →

    © CalmView