Rutherford, Radioactivity and the Future of Physics - with the Cosmic Shambles Network

Often dubbed the 'Father of the Nuclear Age’, Ernest Rutherford’s pioneering, and Nobel Award winning, discoveries in nuclear physics and radioactivity changed the way we see and understand the world forever.

Join Robin Ince and Helen Czerski, with Jim Al-Khalili, Linda Cremonesi, Jon Butterworth and Sunayana Bhargava, as they discuss Rutherford, the scientific legacy of his discoveries and the future of physics.

This talk was recorded on 27 April 2021

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[WordProfitTrail]

I'm a big fan of Royal Institution. Thank you for bringing such a fascinating, cool and great lectures of the renowned speakers, researchers and professors.

[choriamanah]

I want to have a room like that! Full of books, messy but cozy. I could spend days in there

[WaltRBuck]

"You don't pretend your an expert in another area just because you're talking to a scientist in another field."

While I deeply respect the knowledge of many scientists, sadly some of them get caught up in fame and television, and begin acting like they're experts in most fields. I won't name names because in this case it'd be pathetic to do so. In America, we have a few.

That being said, I still respect those people because they are bringing science "down to earth" per se. They do allow people to begin to grasp even the basics because they can present it in such a way. So, by no means am I saying they are bad. Quite the contrary. It's just that sometimes we tend to overstep our boundaries without realizing it, I think.

[surendranmk]

"Gentle men, now you will see that, now you see nothing. And why you see nothing you will see presently."
The beauty of his eyes,
Profundity of his thoughts,
Exactness of his experiments,
He was allways more than a human!
Ever shining bright star of the science history

[cliveomahoney]

Contrary to the sentiments expressed by the chap below, I thought that the discussion was brilliant because of the point at which it started and what it developed into. I loved the way in which the discussion expanded to get to new science and new perspectives. I'd like all particle physicists to be able to change a car tyre (tire). Superbo. Thank you.

[virendravarma]

I am the biggest fan of royal institution

[GGoAwayy]

Radioactivity... is in the air for you and me... Radioactivity... discovered by Madame Curie...

[RWBHere]

No sign of Sunayana Bhargava. Ahh well; it was still very educational and interesting. 🙂

[prisonerohope]

Thanks. I especially enjoyed neutrino lady. So interesting!

[andycordy]

Loved this discussion. No credits ? I recognise only Helen and Jim from other RI lectures. Who's the chair? Who is Linda?

[mo-ben-aissamosadak]

what about the model of energies level of the atom and the zeros of the Riemann zeta function, that's the future of physics.

[fractalnomics]

My favourite quote from Rutherford is what he said to Russian scientist Kapitsa, ca.1921: 'The laboratory is no place to disseminate communist propaganda.'

[TheRogueRockhound]

His great grandson is my longtime buddy

[badcrab]

How would you begin to study these subjects to work in these fields?

[kagannasuhbeyoglu]

The future of physics is very chaotic as I understand it...

[RWBHere]

Thank-you for the excellent discussion. This is the peri-CoViD RI at its very best. 🙂👍

[PaulHigginbothamSr]

Bright minds illuminate for us common mortals pictures that more clearly represent truths hidden from our common perceptions by showing us clear and easier representations of murky things not illuminated previously that might not be understood by we the common man. Like quantum mechanics by people on bongo drums saying or making representations like Richard Feynman showing a farm boy like me what statistical probability showed his clear mind how to even think about subjects we previously could not grok.

[Games_and_Music]

42:15 I have to agree with Jon, quantum mechanics seems to be about trying to look for the most outrageous ideas and trying to fit a mathematical narrative to it.
Not a lot of it seems logically applicable, i mean, i'm fine with them fussing about, but it's kind of a shame that mainstream media likes to hype their "discoveries" sometimes.

[mayukhpurkayastha]

Sir i m invent tree sensorable power acceptor Ai quantum computer India. This power acceptor Ai quantum More update new type quantum computer 🌳🌳🌳

[KaliFissure]

One could argue that radioactivity is antigravity. Mass repelling mass contrary to gravity because all of the components are in opposition even though against usual gradient. Is the inversion of vectors the thing? A total contrarian spinwise. And so ejected by the community.