Rutherford house at Macleans College is named after Ernest Rutherford. Ernest Rutherford was born in New Zealand in 1871 as one of 12 children. It was Rutherford who first split and discovered the nucleus – a name that he invented – in an atom. For this he is regarded as the father of nuclear physics.
Ernest Rutherford was born in Brightwater, Tasman District on the 30th of August 1871. His family consisted of twelve children, Ernest was the fourth oldest. His parents, James and Martha Rutherford were middle class people. Martha was a school teacher, therefore Ernest and the other eleven children always received good education, and were encouraged to study. Ernest did exceptionally well in school, but he exceeded in Science. At the age of sixteen, Rutherford received a scholarship to attend Nelson College, there he did extremely well, was above all others in class and still had time to become the captain of the rugby team. He later attended the Canterbury College where he further improved his skills. Through excellent work in Canterbury College, Rutherford won a national scholarship to the University of New Zealand. In this University he got his master’s degree in mathematics and physics.
1911, Rutherford discovered that atoms not independent, they are controlled by something else, a nucleus. He noticed that the majority of an atom's mass is concentrated at a very tiny point in the center where the nucleus was located. The nucleus is a positive force surrounded by electrons which are negative free flying particles. He also discovered that there is something smaller than an atom. In 1917, Ernest Rutherford split the atom discovering that atoms are made of more than one part. This is important because we learned that we are able to split atoms to make different elements. Ernest Rutherford has won many awards and gotten many prestigious titles. Rutherford was awarded the 1908 Nobel Prize in