Pickering, (center) JPL Director, presenting Mariner spacecraft model to President John F. By the 1930s, there was an impressive array of scientific talent at Caltech, which was visited by Albert Einstein three times in the first half of that decade. In 1929, William arrived at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) where he studied electrical engineering. He won a scholarship to Wellington College where he excelled in maths and science and discovered an intense interest in the (then) new techniques of amateur radio communication. His scholastic ability was such that he learned algebra and Latin as well as the regular curriculum of English, composition, history and geography. Will excelled at school, particularly in science and arithmetic. He liked to pretend to be a teacher at home while his amused grandparents played his classmates. Well-behaved, quick to learn, curious and equipped with a naturally retentive memory. He soon made an impression at Havelock Primary School. His mother died when he was six and when his father, Albert, took up a Government post as a pharmacist in Samoa, Will was sent to live with his grandparents William and Kate in Havelock. William Hayward Pickering was born in Wellington in 1910. In 1908, he was awarded a Nobel Prize in Chemistry for investigations into the disintegration of the elements and the chemistry of radioactive substances. 9Įrnest Rutherford left New Zealand in 1895 as a highly skilled 23-year-old, who held three degrees from the University of New Zealand and had a reputation as an outstanding researcher and innovator working at the forefront of electrical technology. This tragic accident overshadowed his winning a scholarship to attend Nelson College, which he achieved with high marks on his second attempt. Apparently Ernest was supposed to be on the trip but was running an errand.
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Two of Ernest’s brothers, Herbert and Charles, drowned in the Marlborough Sounds on a fishing adventure. In 1886, when Ernest was 15, tragedy struck. Scholarship pupil, Ernest Rutherford is pictured in this photograph, ninth from the left in the third from the front row. 8Ī Nelson College school photograph from 1887 in front of the first school, later destroyed by fire. But as the family was not wealthy, a scholarship was one of the few options for him to continue his education. 6 When awarded the Nobel Prize in 1908, Dr Rutherford wrote to his former principal Jacob Reynolds thanking him for initiating him ‘into the mysteries of Latin, algebra and Euclid in my youthful days at Havelock, of which I still have a very keen remembrance.” 7Įrnest distinguished himself at school, coming top in his class in every subject in his final year. In the years Ernest attended Havelock School, there was one teacher, two ‘pupil teachers’ and 100 students. The close-knit family forged a good life with few amenities in the isolated and rugged landscape and Martha ensured that all her children were well prepared for school, with all receiving good educations.
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3 The young Ernest helped out at his father’s flax and saw mills. In 1885, he turned to sawmilling, manufacturing railway sleepers for the Government. In 1882 when Ernest was 11, the family moved to Havelock where James ran a flaxmill at Ruapaka. Collie, W :,, Alexander Turnbull Library, PAColl-1.: Alice, Mary Thompson (cousin), Arthur (in front), Ernest (behind), Eve(in front in white), James (in chair) Nell (standing), Ethel (in front in white), Flo (in chair), George (immediately behind), Herbert (at rear), Martha (standing side on), Charles & Jim.Įarning enough to feed the large family was a struggle for James.