Biographies of Ernest Rutherford are studded with superlatives: "founder of nuclear physics"; "certainly the greatest scientist to emerge from New Zealand"; "a remarkable team leader"; and "one of the greatest experimentalists of all time. " His accomplishments were recognized both by fellow scientists and by his adopted homeland, England. He received the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1908 and was president of the Royal Society from 1925 to 1930. He was also knighted in 1914, awarded the Order of Merit in 1921, and named Baron Rutherford of Nelson in 1931. After his death in London on October 19, 1937, Rutherford was laid to rest in Westminster Abbey, near the graves of Isaac Newton and William Thomson (Lord Kelvin).

Few scientists had as humble a beginning as did Ernest Rutherford. He was born in Brightwater, near Nelson, New Zealand, on August 30, 1871. His father was a wheelwright and a farmer. Ernest did well in school and earned scholarships first...