He was the Brightwater born physicist who split the atom and became known as the father of nuclear physics. And if one local man gets his way, we’ll be honouring Ernest Rutherford with a recognised day of remembrance next year.
Tony Flewellen has set August 30, 2014 the anniversary of Ernest Rutherford’s birth in his sights as the first ever Rutherford Day. He says his passion for science, particularly the philosophy of science combined with the recent reading of a biography of Rutherford has spurred him on to create the day of recognition.
“After coming to understand what an amazing bloke he was I thought it was only right that perhaps we honoured Rutherford in the same way he chose to honour us. When he was elevated to the peerage he took the name quite proudly, Baron Rutherford of Nelson, he had a lot of choices open to him but he chose Nelson and I think it is probably time to return that compliment.”
He says despite place names and memorials around Nelson, more could be done to remember Rutherford and his achievements and that’s been the motivation behind pushing a special anniversary day. “There’s place names around the place and most of us are familiar with Rutherford house and Rutherford St, but I think there is probably a whole generation of Nelsonians now who’ve grown up not really knowing the full story behind those names.”
He says while the idea is in the very early stages of planning, he’s got plenty of ideas about what the day could potentially be for Nelson. “It’s in gestation at the moment but it has the potential to be a lot of things. I would like first and foremost for it to be a day where we honour Rutherford’s memory. Secondly it is a chance for us all to focus on the sciences in our region and the way they contribute to our economy because it’s a huge part of what we are in Nelson. And it could also be a chance to honour some of the academic work that goes on.” He says he is hopeful that the community will get behind it and encourages the public to support the idea. “August 30 next year will be the inaugural Rutherford Day – I’m quite sure of it.”
