List of Ernest Rutherford Quotes

[from Uranium] There Are Present At Least Two Distinct Types Of Radiation One That Is Very Readily Absorbed, Which Will Be Termed For Convenience The α Radiation, And The Other Of A More Penetrative Character, Which Will Be Termed The β Radiation.

The Greatest Contributor To The Feeling Of Tension And Fear Of War Arose From The Power Of The Bombing Aeroplane. If All Nations Would Consent To Abolish Air Bombardment . . . That Would Mean The Greatest Possible Release From Fear.

The Great Object Is To Find The Theory Of The Matter [of X-rays] Before Anyone Else, For Nearly Every Professor In Europe Is Now On The Warpath.

You Know, I Am Sorry For The Poor Fellows That Haven't Got Labs To Work In.

From The Results So Far Obtained It Is Difficult To Avoid The Conclusion That The Long-range Atoms Arising From Collision Of Alpha Particles With Nitrogen Are Not Nitrogen Atoms But Probably Atoms Of Hydrogen, Or Atoms Of Mass 2. If This Be The Case, We Must Conclude That The Nitrogen Atom Is Disintegrated Under The Intense Forces Developed In A Close Collision With A Swift Alpha Particle, And That The Hydrogen Atom Which Is Liberated Formed A Constituent Part Of The Nitrogen Nucleus.

If, As I Have Reason To Believe, I Have Disintegrated The Nucleus Of The Atom, This Is Of Greater Significance Than The War.

Radioactivity Is Shown To Be Accompanied By Chemical Changes In Which New Types Of Matter Are Being Continually Produced. .... The Conclusion Is Drawn That These Chemical Changes Must Be Sub-atomic In Character.

If Your Result Needs A Statistician Then You Should Design A Better Experiment.

A Good Scientific Theory Should Be Explicable To A Barmaid.

I Congratulate You Both On A Fine Piece Of Work Which I Am Sure Will Ultimately Prove Of Importance. I Am Personally Very Much Interested In Your Results... In The Past I Have Tried A Number Of Experiments... But Without Any Success.

I Have To Keep Going, As There Are Always People On My Track. I Have To Publish My Present Work As Rapidly As Possible In Order To Keep In The Race. The Best Sprinters In This Road Of Investigation Are Becquerel And The Curies.

Splitting The Atom Is Like Trying To Shoot A Gnat In The Albert Hall At Night And Using Ten Million Rounds Of Ammunition On The Off Chance Of Getting It. That Should Convince You That The Atom Will Always Be A Sink Of Energy And Never A Reservoir Of Energy.