Objects of Rutherford's Life
Nobel prize
The 1908 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Ernest Rutherford "for his research into the decay of elements and the chemistry of radioactive substances".
​
What a surprise !
Pictures:
Both sides of the Nobel Medal. The reverse is common to the prices of physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine and literature; the reverse is specific to the prices of physics and chemistry. Source: Britannica
Ernest and May Rutherford - Stockholm - December 10, 1908 - Nobel Prize Ceremony; Source: Hvar 8 Dag - 12/10/1908
Svante Arrhenius in 1909, source: Wikipedia
Official photo of Ernest Rutherford at the presentation of his prize in 1908, Source: the Nobel Foundation archive
Letter from Ernest Rutherford to Arthur Stewart Eve dated December 22, 1908. Source: Fontanus / McGill University
Text of an article in the newspaper "Patea Mail", Volume XXXI, March 22, 1909, Page 3 (May Rutherford's account of the Nobel ceremony). Source: Paperspast
This award was a major turning point in Rutherford's career: he obtained international recognition.
The Nobel Prize was not yet very publicized, especially for scientific disciplines. But in the world of research, the aura associated with it was already sufficient for the recipients of this honor to be regarded with respect.
Since 1901, it had been awarded to great names, such as Wilhelm Röntgen , the inventor of X-rays, Pierre and Marie Curie, for their research on radioactivity, Joseph John Thomson, the discoverer of the electron, or Hendrik Lorentz , pioneer in the field of relativity, among others, all crowned in physics. On the chemists side, the list of laureates included Emil Fischer, Svante August Arrhenius, William Ramsay or Henri Moissan.
The first surprise for Ernest was to receive this award when he was only 37 years old .
Of course, Marie Curie was 3 years younger when she got it in 1903; but since then, the scientists who had been distinguished had been much older.
The second surprise concerned the discipline in which they decided to reward him: chemistry .
Ernest claimed to be a physicist and did not have chemists in his heart.
The most appalling in his eyes was William Ramsay, but Frederick Soddy, his former partner in Montreal had, over time, proved to be just as unbearable (especially after working in London ... with Ramsay).
Interestingly, however, among Rutherford's best friends at the time were the American Bertram Boltwood and the German Otto Hahn ... two chemists.
In fact, whatever his negative prejudices about chemists, Ernest had the intelligence to recognize the limits of his skills in this area. And that was the reason he had used the services of Soddy, then Boltwood and Hahn. The latter would also adopt the same approach: after his stay in Montreal with Rutherford, the German chemist had obtained a position in Berlin where he had formed a pair with an Austrian physicist, Lise Meitner. A complementarity of skills which allowed great scientific progress.
But back to our Rutherford, professor of applied physics, suddenly being called a "chemist".
Two reasons may explain why the sages of Stockholm awarded him the Nobel Prize for this specialty.
First of all, radioactivity was a field of research which was still young in 1908, since its discovery dates back to 1896. It was not always easy to know whether the discoveries that were made were in the domain of physics or chemistry. It was therefore possible to squeeze a Nobel candidate on one side or the other, depending on the needs.
And it is here that the second reason for this choice appears: political maneuvers between the members of the Nobel committee, each wanting to impose their selection on the others.
In this case, Svante August Arrhenius was inclined to award the Physics Prize to Max Planck and the Chemistry Prize to Ernest Rutherford, whose work was complementary. He wanted to distinguish Rutherford, but he feared that if he won the physics prize, Planck would get nothing. Indeed, Ernest had been nominated by a greater number of people for physics than for chemistry and the very content of his work placed him in the position of favorite in this discipline.
Nobel Prize nominations for Ernest Rutherford
Source: Nobel committee
Chemistry 1907, Svante Arrhenius
Physics 1907, Emil Warburg,
Physics 1907, Adolf von Baeyer,
Physics 1907, Emil Fischer ,
Physics 1907, Philipp von Lenard,
Physics 1907, Max Planck
Physics 1908, Svante Arrhenius
Physics 1908, John Cox
Physics 1908, Philipp von Lenard
Physics 1908, Max Planck
Physics 1908, Emil Warburg
-
Chemistry 1908, Svante Arrhenius
-
Chemistry 1908, R. Wegscheider
-
Chemistry 1908, Oskar Widman
Physics 1922 & 23, Th. Svedberg
Physics 1924, David Jordan
Physics 1931, 32, 33, 35, 37, J. Stark
But Arrhenius was well acquainted with the workings of the committee responsible for deciding the awarding of prizes - and even better with how to achieve its ends.
He negotiated so that, unlike in previous years, the committee's debates begin with the Chemistry Prize. And he got what he wanted: Rutherford was chosen. Mainly because there were few names proposed in this category. Then the wise men mentioned the price of Physics. And the French Gabriel Lippmann was selected. Arrhenius had failed (or succeeded) halfway.
The most embarrassing for his second favorite, Max Planck, was that based on leaks from Stockholm, many newspapers had announced his victory. His disappointment was great when the winners were revealed.
In the end, the surprise of the unexpected winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was only a lesser evil.
Moreover, once his surprise has passed, Ernest chose to welcome with humor the attribution of this award in a discipline that was not his. This is how he inserted this sentence within the framework of the speech of thanks which he delivered during the official banquet, in the presence of the royal family of Sweden:
​
"I have dealt with many different transformations with various periods of time, but the quickest that I have met was my own transformation in one moment from a physicist to a chemist."
"J'ai été confronté à de nombreuses transformations différentes avec différentes périodes de temps, mais la plus rapide que j'ai rencontrée a été ma propre transformation en un instant de physicien en chimiste."
The result was a great burst of laughter throughout the hall, including among the heirs to the thrones and their loved ones.
It must be said that Ernest was speaking after the other laureates, all older and quite talkative and boring.
However, he was not at the end of his surprises : this stay in Stockholm seemed to him to be a dream. He who remained a simple man and who lived for his research and his family found himself catapulted into grandiose settings and in front of people who were both refined and warm.
For more details on the unfolding of this "enchanted parenthesis", consult the " Stockholm " page
In writing this part of my novel concerning the awarding of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Ernest Rutherford in 1908, I had the benefit of many sources.
The first, of course, is the website of the Nobel Committee, on which you can find explanations of the proceedings, the speeches of the participants and even the banquet menu.
Then two letters brought me precious details: one from Ernest to Arthur Stewart Eve, one of his Montreal acolytes with whom he had remained closest; the other from May to Jim Rutherford, Ernest's favorite brother, who lived in Waverley , Taranaki province, New Zealand's North Island, close to all the rest of his family. This second letter was reproduced in a local newspaper and was thus able to reach us.
(Apparently Ernest was rather proud of the little joke he had entertained the Swedish Royal Family with, since he recycles it in the last paragraph of the letter I reproduced here: "I hope my friends at McGill aren't too surprised at my sudden transformation into a chemist. ")
