Rutherford Medal and Prize
Encyclopedia
The Rutherford Medal and Prize is awarded once every two years by the Institute of Physics
for "distinguished research in nuclear physics or nuclear technology."
, the Rutherford Memorial Lecture was instituted by the Council of The Physical Society in 1939. The first lecture took place in 1942. The lecture was converted into a medal and prize in 1965, and the first Rutherford Medal and Prize was awarded the following year.
"The award shall be made for distinguished research in nuclear physics or nuclear technology. The medal shall be bronze and shall be accompanied by a prize of £1000 and a certificate."
Institute of Physics
The Institute of Physics is a scientific charity devoted to increasing the practice, understanding and application of physics. It has a worldwide membership of around 40,000....
for "distinguished research in nuclear physics or nuclear technology."
History
Dedicated to the late Lord Rutherford of NelsonErnest 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 Rutherford Memorial Lecture was instituted by the Council of The Physical Society in 1939. The first lecture took place in 1942. The lecture was converted into a medal and prize in 1965, and the first Rutherford Medal and Prize was awarded the following year.
"The award shall be made for distinguished research in nuclear physics or nuclear technology. The medal shall be bronze and shall be accompanied by a prize of £1000 and a certificate."
Lecturers (1942–1964)
- 1942 Harold Roper RobinsonHarold Roper RobinsonHarold Roper Robinson FRS was a physicist and, in later life, an outstanding figure in university administration.Robinson was born in Ulverston, Lancashire on 26 November 1889, the eldest of four brothers and one sister. In 1908 he went to Manchester University on a scholarship...
- 1944 John CockcroftJohn CockcroftSir John Douglas Cockcroft OM KCB CBE FRS was a British physicist. He shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for splitting the atomic nucleus with Ernest Walton, and was instrumental in the development of nuclear power....
- 1946 Mark OliphantMark OliphantSir Marcus 'Mark' Laurence Elwin Oliphant, AC, KBE, FRS was an Australian physicist and humanitarian who played a fundamental role in the first experimental demonstration of nuclear fusion and also the development of the atomic bomb.During his retirement, Oliphant was appointed as the Governor of...
- 1948 Ernest MarsdenErnest MarsdenSir Ernest Marsden was an English-New Zealand physicist. He was born in East Lancashire, living in Rishton and educated at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Blackburn, where an inter-house trophy rewarding academic excellence bears his name.He met Ernest Rutherford at the University of Manchester...
- 1950 Alexander Smith Russell
- 1952 Rudolf PeierlsRudolf PeierlsSir Rudolf Ernst Peierls, CBE was a German-born British physicist. Rudolf Peierls had a major role in Britain's nuclear program, but he also had a role in many modern sciences...
- 1954 Patrick Blackett
- 1956 Philip DeePhilip DeePhilip Ivor Dee was a British physicist. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1941 and won its Hughes Medal in 1952...
- 1958 Niels BohrNiels BohrNiels Henrik David Bohr was a Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum mechanics, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922. Bohr mentored and collaborated with many of the top physicists of the century at his institute in...
- 1960 Cecil Powell
- 1962 Denys WilkinsonDenys WilkinsonSir Denys Haigh Wilkinson FRS is a British nuclear physicist. He was educated at Loughborough Grammar School and Jesus College, Cambridge. He holds the higher degree of ScD, an HonFilDr degree and an HonLLD degree...
- 1964 Peter FowlerPeter Fowler (physicist)Peter Fowler FRS was a British physicist. His father was the physicist Sir Ralph Howard Fowler, who determined the state of matter in white-dwarf stars, and his grandfather, a giant of 20th century physics, Lord Ernest Rutherford, who discovered the atomic nucleus.Peter researched primary cosmic...
Recipients of the Rutherford Medal and Prize
- 1966 Peter Kapitza
- 1968 Brian Flowers
- 1970 Samuel DevonsSamuel DevonsSamuel Devons FRS was a British physicist and science historian.-Biography:Devons, son of a Lithuanian immigrant, was born in Bangor, Wales. When he turned 16, he was awarded a scholarship for physics at Trinity College in Cambridge...
- 1972 Aage Bohr
- 1973 James MacDonald Cassels
- 1974 Albert Edward Litherland
- 1976 Joan Maie Freeman and Roger John Blin-Stoyle
- 1978 Paul Taunton MatthewsPaul Taunton MatthewsPaul Taunton Matthews CBE FRS was a British theoretical physicist.He was born in Erode in India. He was awarded the Adams Prize in 1958, elected to the Royal Society in 1963, and awarded the Rutherford Medal and Prize in 1978. He became head of the Physics Department of Imperial College, London...
- 1980 Paul Gayleard Murphy and John James Thresher
- 1982 David Maurice Brink
- 1984 Peter HiggsPeter HiggsPeter Ware Higgs, FRS, FRSE, FKC , is an English theoretical physicist and an emeritus professor at the University of Edinburgh....
and Tom W. B. KibbleTom W. B. KibbleThomas Walter Bannerman Kibble, FRS, is a British scientist and senior research investigator at The Blackett Laboratory, at Imperial College London, UK. His research interests are in quantum field theory, especially the interface between high-energy particle physics and cosmology... - 1986 Alan Astbury
- 1988 John Dowell and Peter I P KalmusGeorge KalmusGeorge Ernest Kalmus, CBE, FRS is a British particle physicist.Kalmus was educated at St Albans County Grammar School and University College, London....
- 1990 Roger Julian Noel Phillips
- 1992 Erwin Gabathuler and Terry Sloan
- 1994 James Philip Elliott
- 1996 David Vernon Bugg
- 1998 Anthony Michael Hillas
- 2000 William R Phillips
- 2002 Peter John Dornan, David Plane and Wilber Venus
- 2004 David L Wark
- 2006 Ken Peach
- 2007 Patrick Bateson
- 2008 Dr Alan Copestake, Dr Stephen Walley, Mr John Stewart Kiltie, Mr Chris Weston and Mr Brian Griffin
- 2010 Martin Freer
