The Right Hon. Lord Rutherford of Nelson, O.M., F.R.S

Abstract

IT is hard to think of Rutherford as a man whose life is finished, that we shall no more see his steady eyes and hear the familiar voice, now asking placidly about some domestic trifle as any friend might, now growing hurried and excited when ideas about some physical problem were coming almost too fast for his tongue. There can seldom have been a man in whom burning genius was so closely associated with the kindly common place, who at any moment might suddenly become inspired, and a little later might be showing a boyish naïvety about some question of another kind. His ability to excite affection was as marked as his power of commanding admiration: his foibles were essentially those of a frank and simple nature, the charm of which remained unspoiled, and was even enhanced, by successes that might well have turned the head of a lesser man.