Ernest Rutherford Quotes

All of physics is either impossible or trivial. It is impossible until you understand it, and then it becomes trivial.

When we have found how the nucleus of atoms is built up we shall have found the greatest secret of all — except life. We shall have found the basis of everything — of the earth we walk on, of the air we breathe, of the sunshine, of our physical body itself, of everything in the world, however great or however small — except life.

Never say, "I tried it once and it did not work."

A theory that you can't explain to a bartender is probably no damn good.

We haven't got the money, so we've got to think.

An alleged scientific discovery has no merit unless it can be explained to a barmaid.

It was almost as incredible as if you fired a 15-inch shell at a piece of tissue paper and it came back and hit you.

If your experiment needs statistics, you ought to have done a better experiment.

The only possible conclusion the social sciences can draw is: some do, some don't.

All science is either physics or stamp collecting.

Every good laboratory consists of first rate men working in great harmony to insure the progress of science; but down at the end of the hall is an unsociable, wrong-headed fellow working on unprofitable lines, and in his hands lies the hope of discovery.

I must confess it was very unexpected and I am very startled at my metamorphosis into a chemist.

Now I know what the atom looks like.

The energy produced by the breaking down of the atom is a very poor kind of thing. Anyone who expects a source of power from the transformation of these atoms is talking moonshine.

I am a great believer in the simplicity of things and as you probably know I am inclined to hang on to broad & simple ideas like grim death until evidence is too strong for my tenacity.

We are rather like children, who must take a watch to pieces to see how it works.

Gentlemen, we have run out of money. It is time to start thinking.

The more physics you have the less engineering you need.

I've just finished reading some of my early papers, and you know, when I'd finished I said to myself, 'Rutherford, my boy, you used to be a damned clever fellow.' (1911)

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.

Gentlemen, now you will see that now you see nothing. And why you see nothing you will see presently.

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.

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.

You should never bet against anything in science at odds of more than about 10-12 to 1.

It is essential for men of science to take an interest in the administration of their own affairs or else the professional civil servant will step in - and then the Lord help you.

That which is not measurable is not science. That which is not physics is stamp collecting.

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.

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.

If your result needs a statistician then you should design a better experiment.

All scientific men will be delighted to extend their warmest congratulations to Tesla and to express their appreciation of his great contributions to science.

The year 1896 ... marked the beginning of what has been aptly termed the heroic age of Physical Science. Never before in the history of physics has there been witnessed such a period of intense activity when discoveries of fundamental importance have followed one another with such bewildering rapidity.

Don't let me catch anyone talking about the Universe in my department.

If, as I have reason to believe, I have disintegrated the nucleus of the atom, this is of greater significance than the war.

Should a young scientist working with me come to me after two years of such work and ask me what to do next, I would advise him to get out of science. After two years of work, if a man does not know what to do next, he will never make a real scientist.

You know, I am sorry for the poor fellows that haven't got labs to work in.

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.

A good scientific theory should be explicable to a barmaid.

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.

[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.