Places of Ernest Rutherford's life
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Cambridge
(second period : 1919-1937)
In 1918, Joseph John Thomson, director of the Cavendish Laboratory of Experimental Physics in Cambridge since 1884, was appointed head of Trinity College, one of the institutions that make up the university.
Initially, he planned to retain his position as director of the laboratory of experimental physics at Cambridge, but he soon realised that the responsibilities of Master of a Cambridge college were very demanding. He therefore agreed to step down. Ernest Rutherford was chosen as his replacement.
Rutherford's workplace in Cambridge : the Cavendish Laboratory
Convincing the university senate to appoint Rutherford on J.J. Thomson's position in 1919 was not difficult. More complicated was persuading Rutherford to leave the physics department at Victoria University in Manchester, which he had developed since 1907 into one of the most successful research centres in the British Empire... and indeed the world.
The negotiations were conducted mainly by Joseph Larmor, professor of mathematics and member of the Senate. They lasted from 4 March 1919, when Larmor first approached Rutherford, until 2 April, when the new professor was elected. As there was only one candidate, he got the job. But the discussions were not over: until the end of August, Rutherford continued to haggle, but this time directly with J.J. Thomson, to define the latter's responsibilities precisely. J.J. wanted to keep a foot in the laboratory, but Rutherford wanted to be the sole master on board.
Finally, an agreement is signed that allows Thomson to use a few rooms, call on his loyal assistant, Ebeneezer Everett, and be assisted by a few students. But he will have no say in the management or scientific direction of the laboratory.
Rutherford becomes head of the Cavendish laboratory of Experimental Physcis of the University of Cambridge in october 1919.
He faces many challenges.
After four years of war, keeping the students away for the lecture rooms, they come back en masse. The laboratory, made to train 300 people must accomodate twice that number.
Just like space, there is a lack of equipment for practical work.
Finally, there are not enough teachers, whether they are lecturers or tenured professors, to cover all the courses.
Rutherford began by assessing the situation and drawing up a list of essential investments.
This document, entitled The History and needs of the Cavendish Laboratory – 1919, was sent to the Vice-Chancellor of the University, Arthur Shipley.
Rutherford begins by summarising the major discoveries made within the walls of the Cavendish Laboratory, by James Clerck Maxwell et J.J. Thomson, his predecessors at the head of this department..
He then recalls the vital role that scientific research played during the conflict that has just ended (notably thanks to the work coordinated by the Board of Invention and Research).
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He then clearly outlines, with figures, the improvements that need to be made so that Cavendish can maintain its reputation and continue to contribute to the benefits that science can bring to industry and society in general (and to the armed forces in the event of war, it goes without saying).
He thus establishes a list of four major areas for progress:
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1. Increased laboratory and lecture space for the teaching of Physics.
2. Provision of new, well-equipped laboratories for Applied Physics, Optics and Properties of Matter.
3. Provision of three additional lecturers of high standing, competent to direct advanced study in research in the new departments mentioned above.
4 The endowment of another Chair of Physics in the University.
He then gives his estimate of the necessary expenditure: £75,000 for a new building and an additional £125,000 to cover maintenance, equipment purchases and salaries for new teachers.
To be continued....
(This section will be completed soon).
In the meantime, you can learn more about the years during which Rutherford headed the Cavendish Laboratory by watching the video below. It is a guided tour given in 2007 by British historian and philosopher of science Simon Schaffer and presented on Professor du professeur Alan Macfarlane's YouTube channel (both are professors at Cambridge).
Rutherford's housing in Cambridge : Newnham Cottage
In march 1919, Eileen Rutherford, Ernest's daughter, came to take the entrance exams for Newnham College, a college in Cambridge. She does not yet know that her father is going to be appointed to a position in that city. She is accompanied by her mother, May.
The exam session lasts several days, and the two women, who are staying in a hotel in the city centre, take evening strolls along the Backs, the tree-lined lawns that stretch along the River Cam, on the opposite bank from where most of the colleges (at least the oldest ones) are located.
Newnham Cottage - South front
Source : Rutherford: being the life and letters of the Rt. Hon. Lord Rutherford, O. M., Arthur Stewart Eve, page 271
Queen's Road borders the Backs to the west, and beautiful mansions line this avenue. But May and Eileen stop in their tracks in front of a property that stands out from the rest: it appears to be abandoned, the garden is overgrown, and the house is in very poor condition. They sneak onto the property, walk around the building, and study every detail, including what little they can see through the dust-covered windows. They are both enchanted by this old house.
But the Newnham College entrance exams came to an end, and Eileen and May returned to Manchester.
Map of Cambridge in 1925 - from Newnham Cottage (Rutherford house) to Free School Lane (Cavendish laboratory).
Extract from an Ordnance Survey map 25 inch. Source : National Library of Scotland
In early April, Ernest Rutherford was appointed head of the Cavendish Laboratory. As soon as she could, May returned to Cambridge, inquired about the dilapidated house she had spotted with her daughter, obtained confirmation that it was still available... and convinced her husband that this was the house the family should live in.
The lease was signed with Caius College, the owner of the property. Work began, but was almost immediately interrupted by a five-month strike by construction workers.
Finally, in December 1919, Eileen, May and Ernest moved into Newnham Cottage (although some craftsmen would still be working there until New Year's Day 1920).
The Rutherfords lived there until Ernest's death in 1937.
Newnham Cottage, house, on the West side of Queens’ Road 87 yards. South of West Road, is of two storeys with gault brick walls and slate-covered roofs.
[...]
The present Northeast wing replaces a narrower wing pulled down c. 1900; the Northwest wing is later again.
Lesser additions include a covered way extending to the road, and a mid 19th-century glazed cast-iron verandah on the South The covered way existed in 1836 but the entrance to it was rebuilt and the timber balustrading and supports on the open S. side were renewed late in the 19th century.
​An inventory of the historical monuments in the city of Cambridge, Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1959, page 375, for the description and the floor ground plan shown here
​ Newnham Cottage is an ‘Italian villa’ type of house that demonstrates a successful synthesis of rational values and the neo-Classical style.​
The south front has the middle part recessed 1 ½ ft. though the eaves-cornice is continued straight across from the side bays. On the ground floor are five french-windows [...]; on the first floor are four casement-windows, [...]. To the East are two small additions. On the West is a small projection, probably an addition, described as an 'oriel' in 1816, with South and West windows, the last converted from a doorway.
Inside on the ground floor are three main rooms facing S. to the garden: a study to the E., a central room and a W. room of greater depth than the foregoing and crossed by a trabeation supported on pilasters with enriched caps. Leading from the last room, the 'oriel' has a ribbed quadripartite two-centred plaster vault springing from foliated corbels in the angles and with foliage bosses; the S. window has plaster shafted splays and a moulded rear-arch ; in 1816 it was 'glazed with ancient stained glass'. The plain staircase has cut strings and slender balusters with a mahogany handrail.
Newnham Cottage - South front
Source : Rutherford: being the life and letters of the Rt. Hon. Lord Rutherford, O. M., Arthur Stewart Eve, page 271