Lord Rutherford, Russian Physics and the Human Element

This year the world celebrates the 150th anniversary of Ernest Rutherford’s birth. For the last four years our speaker Dr Olga Suvorova has been researching the Russian primary sources related to Lord Rutherford and his Russian students such as private correspondence, photos and diaries in the Archives in Russia.

Lord Rutherford is held in the greatest esteem in New Zealand as a graduate of the University of Canterbury, a remarkable scholar and whose ground breaking research gives him the title of “the founder of nuclear physics.” This fascinating topic draws attention to Lord Rutherford and his Russian connections, and presents one of the world’s greatest scientists and most outstanding New Zealanders through Russian eyes.

“People like Rutherford cease to be the national pride of the countries where they were born and where they worked – they become the pride of all mankind.” – Pyotr Kapitsa, Nobel laureate and Rutherford’s Russian student.

Dr Olga Suvorova is a Wellington-based independent researcher, cultural historian and linguist. She has a PhD in Cultural Studies (2007) and a Specialist’s Degree (Magna Cum Laude, 2003) in Linguistics, Teaching and Translation/Interpreting (English, French, Russian) in the field of Intercultural Communication from Lomonosov Moscow State University. Recently Dr Suvorova has published an article “Rutherford and Russian Physics: The Critical Influence of the Human Factor” in the Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand (Article ID: TNZR 1914690).