Rutherford Medal
Encyclopedia
The Rutherford Medal is the premier award of the Royal Society of New Zealand
, and has been awarded annually since 1991 in recognition of people who have made outstanding contributions to New Zealand society and culture in science, mathematics, social science, and technology. The medal is funded by the New Zealand government.
It is named after Ernest Rutherford
, the New Zealand experimental physicist
and Nobel laureate who pioneered the orbital theory
of the atom
.
The Royal Society of New Zealand has also awarded the Hector Memorial Medal
since 1915.
Royal Society of New Zealand
The Royal Society of New Zealand , known as the New Zealand Institute before 1933, was established in 1867 to co-ordinate and assist the activities of a number of regional research societies including the Auckland Institute, the Wellington Philosophical Society, the Philosophical Institute of...
, and has been awarded annually since 1991 in recognition of people who have made outstanding contributions to New Zealand society and culture in science, mathematics, social science, and technology. The medal is funded by the New Zealand government.
It is named after Ernest Rutherford
Ernest Rutherford
Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson OM, FRS was a New Zealand-born British chemist and physicist who became known as the father of nuclear physics...
, the New Zealand experimental physicist
Experimental physics
Within the field of physics, experimental physics is the category of disciplines and sub-disciplines concerned with the observation of physical phenomena in order to gather data about the universe...
and Nobel laureate who pioneered the orbital theory
Bohr model
In atomic physics, the Bohr model, introduced by Niels Bohr in 1913, depicts the atom as a small, positively charged nucleus surrounded by electrons that travel in circular orbits around the nucleus—similar in structure to the solar system, but with electrostatic forces providing attraction,...
of the atom
Atom
The atom is a basic unit of matter that consists of a dense central nucleus surrounded by a cloud of negatively charged electrons. The atomic nucleus contains a mix of positively charged protons and electrically neutral neutrons...
.
The Royal Society of New Zealand has also awarded the Hector Memorial Medal
Hector Memorial Medal
The Hector Memorial Medal is awarded annually for outstanding contribution to the advancement of the particular branch of science. It is awarded by the Royal Society of New Zealand in memory of Sir James Hector...
since 1915.
Recipients
- 1991: Vaughan JonesVaughan JonesSir Vaughan Frederick Randal Jones, KNZM, FRS, FRSNZ is a New Zealand mathematician, known for his work on von Neumann algebras, knot polynomials and conformal field theory. He was awarded a Fields Medal in 1990, and famously wore a New Zealand rugby jersey when he accepted the prize...
, mathematician - 1992: Department of Scientific and Industrial ResearchDepartment of Scientific and Industrial ResearchSeveral countries have organizations called the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, abbreviated DSIR.-United Kingdom:...
Group Award - 1993: Roy KerrRoy KerrRoy Patrick Kerr CNZM is a New Zealand mathematician who is best known for discovering the Kerr vacuum, an exact solution to the Einstein field equation of general relativity...
, mathematician - 1994: Ian AxfordIan AxfordSir William Ian Axford, FRS, FRSNZ , was a New Zealand space scientist who was director of Germany's Max Planck Institute for Aeronomy from 1974 to 1990...
, physicist - 1995: William Denny, oncologist, and Auckland Cancer Research Laboratory
- 1996: No award
- 1997: Thomas William WalkerThomas William WalkerThomas William Walker ONZM was an Anglo-New Zealand soil scientist. He was known as "Tom" or "John" or "Johnnie" after the Johnnie Walker brand of whisky, or "Prof" to students and "Baba" to his family....
, wood technologist - 1998: William RobinsonWilliam Robinson (scientist)Bill Robinson was a scientist and seismic engineer who invented the lead rubber bearing seismic isolation device. Bill grew up in West Auckland, New Zealand. He earned a Masters at the Ardmore School of Engineering, then a PhD in Physical Metallurgy at the University of Illinois...
, seismologist - 1999: David Vere-Jones, statistician
- 2000: Alan MacDiarmidAlan MacDiarmidAlan Graham MacDiarmid ONZ was a chemist, and one of three recipients of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2000.-Early life:He was born in Masterton, New Zealand as one of five children - three brothers and two sisters...
, chemist - 2001: Peter GluckmanPeter GluckmanSir Peter David Gluckman, KNZM, FRS, FMedSc, FRSNZ is a New Zealand scientist who is the first Chief Science Advisor to the New Zealand Prime Minister. -Life:...
, biologist - 2002: Jeff Tallon, physicist
- 2003: George Petersen, biochemist
- 2004: David Penny, theoretical biologist
- 2005: Paul CallaghanPaul Callaghan (physicist)Sir Paul Terence Callaghan, GNZM, FRS, FRSNZ is a New Zealand physicist who, as the founding director of the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology at Victoria University of Wellington, holds the position of Alan MacDiarmid Professor of Physical Sciences and is also...
, physicist - 2006: Ted Baker structural biologist
- 2007: Richard Faull, neuroscientist
- 2008: David ParryDavid Parry (biophysicist)David Anthony Dougall Parry, CNZM is a renowned New Zealand biophysicist known for his work within the area of ultrastructure scleroprotein analysis...
, structural biophysicist - 2009: Peter Hunter, computational bioengineer2009
- 2010: Warren Tate, biochemist
- 2011 Christine Winterbourn (biochemist)