LORD RUTHERFORD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20761, 2 January 1931, Page 8

LORD RUTHERFORD.

The most famous living New Zealander has so nearly exhausted the possible honours the world can confer on a scientist that to find Sir Ernest Rutherford transformed into Lord Fiutherford leaves it doubtful whether there can be any more to offer him. Yet this heaping of distinctions upon him is not likely to arouse any jealousy, or to move anybody to protest that they go beyond his deserts. For Lord Rutherford is not only the most famous of living men who first saw the light in this country; among scientific thinkers he stands in the very first rank. In the world of science there is room for many workers. Their labours can range from the endless search for the most minute pieces of evidence that will help to explain nature's mysteries to the boldest contemplation of principles and first causes. Many minds are trained in that process of ceaseless inquiry, of never-ending search by which the progress of scientific knowledge proceeds. Of the many there finally emerge a few, a select few, who are able to contribute something new, on a grand scale, toward elucidation of the structure, working and meaning of the universe. Lord Rutherford is of this few. His place among them was assured long ago. Even though it happened in the course of time, with the inevitable growth of knowledge, that all the theories he evolved were proved wrong—he would be a bold man who pronounced this impossible, though it can bo counted highly improbable—his fame would not be destroyed, for he belongs to the history of scientific thought. The exact nature of his investigations into the mysteries of radio-activity and the structure of the atom are not easily grasped by the lay mind, but his fellow-workers have not hesitated to admit their boldness, their significance, or the evidence they bring of a striking power of original thought. So he naturally and appropriately becomes Lord Rutherford, a member of the small band of scientist-peers. It is an honour to himsolf, to science, to the land of his birth, for which, as he showed not long ago, he still entertains a lively affection, though his direct associations with it have been few and slender for many years past.