Rutherford and Russian Physics: the critical influence of the human factor.

This study contributes to the insufficiently investigated subject of the perception of Ernest Rutherford in Russia. It also examines Rutherford's impact, both as a scientist and as an outstanding New Zealander, on matters of freedom of science in Imperial Russia and in the early Soviet Union and on human factors during times of social stress and repression. The examples given are drawn from a range of unique primary sources, in particular private correspondence between Rutherford and his Russian students and interns such as G. Antonoff, K. Yakovleff, J. Szmidt, N. Shilov, P. Kapitsa and others, their letters, diaries, photos and publications about their experience of working with Rutherford, including those available in the Russian language only, previously unpublished or unknown to academia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]