Places of Ernest Rutherford's life
Stockholm
Stockholm is obviously associated with the Nobel Prize. This is where Ernest Rutherford came to pick up his in 1908. A surprise in many ways.
Pictures:
The Grand Hotel Royal on Södra Blasieholmshamnen, 1908 Source: stockholmskallan
Ernest and May Rutherford - Stockholm - December 10, 1908 - Nobel Prize ceremony; Source: Hvar 8 Dag - 12/10/1908
Royal Academy of Music (December 10, 1908)
The Academy of Music is a neo-Renaissance palace, designed by architect Johan Fredrik Ã…bom. Its construction was completed in 1878.
the concert hall, has a central nave and side naves with balconies supported by slender cast-iron columns, painted white and gold.
The chandelier that adorns the ceiling is original.
Pictures:
Royal Academy of Music on Nybrokajen, exterior view in 1900. Source: stockholmskallan
Royal Academy of Music on Nybrokajen, exterior view in 2008 - Source: Alexandru BaboÅŸ
Royal Academy of Music - concert hall in 1900. Source:
Royal Academy of Music - concert hall in 2010. Source:
The concert hall of the Academy of Music is the venue for the awarding of Nobel Prizes by the King of Sweden.
The 1908 Nobel Prize winners (from right to left in the drawing):
Physical: Gabriel Lippmann, Paris (63 years old)
Chemistry: Ernest Rutherford, Manchester (37)
Medicine: Elie Metschnikoff, Paris (absent, 63 years old), and Paul Ehrlich (54 years old), Frankfurt;
Literature: Rudolf Eucken, Iena (62 years old).
Pictures:
Portrait of Gustav V, King of Sweden by Anders Leonard Zorn - 1909. Source: repro-tableaux
Presentation of the physics prize to Gabriel Lippmann by King Gustav V - Drawing published in the Dagens Nyheter newspaper of December 11, 1908. Source: Rutherford, Scientist Supreme , by John Campbell page 315
Portraits of the four laureates present on December 10, published in the same newspaper.
Grand Hotel Royal (10 décembre 1908)
From 1901 to 1929, the Nobel banquet was held in the Hall of Mirrors of the Grand Hotel Royal.
The laureates and their guests were distributed along the tables, as well as members of the royal family: sons or brothers of the King accompanied, if applicable, by their wives.
However, neither the King nor the Queen were present (another dinner with them and a few guests was planned on the following day at the Royal Palace).
May was seated between two sons of the King, Prince Whilhelm and Crown Prince Gustav-Adolph. The latter's wife, Margaret of Connaught (born in England) was directly opposite her.
Maria Pavlovna of Russia, Wilhelm's wife, was not far away, as welle as one of the King's brothers, Prince Eugen. The only one who remained single, he also chose a rather unconventional career for a man of his background: he became a painter.
I also visited his house, which has been transformed into a museum, and I can say that he had a certain talent (in addition to being beautifully housed).
Obviously, that evening at the Grand Hotel Royal many toasts are given. May then notices that all members of the royal family drink only mineral water. and she also appreciates that everyone speaks good English.
It was in his response to a toast that night that Ernest claims he has studied many transmutations over the years, but the fastest he's seen is the one that got him into a nod from physicist to chemist.
Members of the Royal Family remark to May that it was quite a change to hear someone speak who was neither serious nor heavy-handed (as the other three laureates who spoke that evening must have been).
Pictures:
The Grand Hotel on Södra Blasieholmshamnen, 1908 Source: stockholmskallan
Margaret of Connaught (left), Maria Pavlovna of Russia (center) and Prince Eugen (right)
Spegelsalen - Hall of Mirrors - Grand Hotel Royal in Stockholm, present day. Source: Julian Stubbs
Nobel banquet in the hall of mirrors of the Grand Hotel - date unknown - between 1901 and 1929. Source: Sverige Radio
Stockholm Royal Palace (December 11, 1908)
On Friday December 11, Ernest spends the morning settling his experiences for the lecture he will give in the afternoon.
His wife, May, spends the day with friends from New Zealand. She also meets an American couple, the Taylors, whom Ernest already knows, having met them two years earlier in California.
Alonzo Taylor is a pathologist, friend of Jacques Loeb, a German emigrated to the United States and with whom Ernest had stayed in 1906, during the period he had given lessons in Berkeley, near San-Francisco. Madeleine Peck Taylor, his wife, is a renowned concert artist whose talents as a pianist Ernest had appreciated during his Californian summer.
If Alonzo Taylor is in Sweden, it is because he came, with the recommendation of Jacques Loeb, to spend a year to be trained in certain chemical techniques in the laboratory of Svante Arrhenius. Svante Arrhenius is a member of the Nobel Committee. And it was thanks to him that Ernest Rutherford won the award that year (see the explanation on the dedicated page ). It would seem that the expression "the world is small" applies perfectly on this occasion when Scandinavia, California and Great Britain are found in the same place at the same time.
Yet the story is not over: a few years later, Jacques Loeb's son will come to work in Rutherford's team in Cambridge . And at that point, the bonds could have been tightened even more, since May Rutherford, the wife of Ernest, made up her mind to marry their daughter Eileen to this young Leonard Loeb. But this is another story...
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On the evening of December 11, May Rutherford dined with the Taylors and went to see Aida at the opera.
Indeed, the dinner at the Royal Palace is reserved for Nobel Prize winners, without their wives.
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Ernest presents his Nobel Lecture in the afternoon in front of the Swedish Academy .
Then he goes to the Royal Palace, in the company of Gabriel Lippmann, Paul Ehrlich, and Rudolf Eucken.
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He will tell May that the King and Queen have been very nice. He will also be impressed by the queen, who seemed to know well the subject on which he was working. The dinner ends at 10:30 p.m. but Ernest continues the evening in a restaurant with the other winners.
Sources:
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Rutherford: being the life and letters of the Rt. Hon. Lord Rutherford, OM ., Arthur Stewart Eve, 1939, page 184
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Rutherford, Scientist Supreme , book (1999) and website by John Campbell
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Rutherford and Boltwood: letters on radioactivity, page 204, ( Letter from ER to BBB dated 11/01/1909 ).
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Rutherford, Simple Genius , David Wilson, page 285
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Rutherford's Nobel Prize and the one he didn't get , Cecilia Jarlskog
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Controlling Life: Jacques Loeb and the Engineering Ideal in Biology , Ph. J. Pauly, p 106 & 108.
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Image : Stockholm Royal Palace in 2007. Source: Wikipedia .
Villa Mittag-Leffler in Djursholm (December 12, 1908)
On Saturday noon, Ernest and May have lunch at the British Embassy.
In the evening, they are invited to Mittag-Leffler's, "in the countryside". Gabriel Lippmann and his wife are also there as well as about sixty other guests.
To reach the residence of the Swedish mathematician in Djursholm, the journey is made using an original electric train.
Pictures :
Villa Mittag-Leffler, south-eastern facade; source: Holger Ellgaard
Gösta Mittag-Leffler around 1900. Source: Wikipedia .
Sources:
Rutherford: being the life and letters of the Rt. Hon. Lord Rutherford, OM ., Arthur Stewart Eve, 1939, page 184
Rutherford, Scientist Supreme , book (1999) and site by John Campbell, page 317
Correspondence of Henri Poincaré with Gösta Mittag-Leffler .
Gösta Mittag-Leffler: A Man of Conviction , by Arild Stubhaug, pages 530-531
Rutherford, Simple Genius , David Wilson, page 285
Suite du programme d'Ernest et May
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Sunday December 13: Ern goes to Uppsala. May stays in Stockholm with the Taylors.
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Monday December 14: Shopping, ceremonial farewell tour, impromptu dinner at Arrhenius.
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Tuesday December 15: Visit to an art gallery and the prehistoric section of the Nordiska Museet.
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Departure from Stockholm by train. Direction Berlin to meet Otto Hahn.