Ernest Marsden

Marsden was born in Lancashire and won a scholarship to Manchester. As a final-year undergraduate in 1909, he worked with Geiger on scattering alpha particles by thin metal foils. Some particles were deflected through unexpectedly large angles, even backwards. Their observations and Rutherford’s 1911 nuclear interpretation were distinct experimental and theoretical stages.

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In 1915 Marsden moved to Victoria University College in Wellington as professor of physics. He entered educational administration in 1922 and became secretary of the new Department of Scientific and Industrial Research in 1926. He helped connect research organisations with industries including dairying and wheat production.

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During the Second World War he helped organise New Zealand radar research. He took up scientific liaison work in London in 1947 and returned to New Zealand in 1954. He died in Wellington in 1970, after a career spanning atomic experiments, research administration and international scientific connections.

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