A Force of Nature
The Frontier Genius of Ernest Rutherford
A new intellectual biography of Ernest Rutherford, the twentieth century’s greatest experimental physicist
Born in colonial New Zealand, fifteen mountainous miles away from the nearest town, Ernest Rutherford grew up on the frontier—a world away from Cambridge, to which he won a scholarship at twenty-four. The career he began there revolutionized modern physics. Among his discoveries were the orbital structure of the atom and the concept of the “half-life” of radioactive materials, which led to a massive reevaluation of the age of the earth, previously judged just 100 million years old. Rutherford and the young men working under him were the first to split the atom, unlocking tremendous forces—forces, as Rutherford himself predicted, that would bring us the atomic bomb.
“Richard Reeves, in his wonderfully lucid style, renders the genius of Ernest Rutherford, who exposed the inner workings of the atom. A great experimentalist and mentor, Rutherford gave birth to the atomic age in his labs, and Reeves captures the drama, personalities, and science.” —Walter Isaacson, author of Einstein: His Life and Universe