editor
2004 September 25th, 19:21
Saw a very good TV program last night on Sir William Pickering, called \'The Rocket Man\'. He was head of JPL.
I just had the thought that it\'s a bit strange that both he and Rutherford came from the same little farming area where there was no electricity, no phone and not even a car until about 1920. I think they may have both gone to the same primary school - a two-room schoolhouse in the top of the South Island, New Zealand.
The leap from there to splitting the atom, and sending rockets to mars seems amazing in one lifetime.
In those days students went to school mostly barefoot and on horseback. The schools had a grazing paddock for the students horses. Many students had to milk cows etc after school. There are still remote areas where this happens, but today students are more likely to arrive in mother\'s SUV.
Another famous New Zealander is Richard Pearse, but that\'a another story.
I just had the thought that it\'s a bit strange that both he and Rutherford came from the same little farming area where there was no electricity, no phone and not even a car until about 1920. I think they may have both gone to the same primary school - a two-room schoolhouse in the top of the South Island, New Zealand.
The leap from there to splitting the atom, and sending rockets to mars seems amazing in one lifetime.
In those days students went to school mostly barefoot and on horseback. The schools had a grazing paddock for the students horses. Many students had to milk cows etc after school. There are still remote areas where this happens, but today students are more likely to arrive in mother\'s SUV.
Another famous New Zealander is Richard Pearse, but that\'a another story.