At each stop on the walk there will be a story and an activity. Worksheets for children to use during the walk need to be downloaded and printed off at school and brought with you.
Stop 1 | Stop 2 | Stop 3 | Stop 4 | Stop 5
Story Five:
Ernest Rutherford (1871–1937)
Mond building
This stop takes place at the Mond building and explores the life of Ernest Rutherford, who had an interest in magnets and then electromagnetism. He wanted to share his ideas with other scientists, so he left New Zealand and travelled the world – he became a professor in Canada, then at Manchester University, and finally here in Cambridge.
He has an ability to look at something really complicated and see simplicity. This skill helped explain what an atom looks like which is very tricky for something so tiny.
Children can try make a model of an atom, by cutting a strip of paper exactly in half 31 times, until they end up with a piece the size of an atom!
Background information for teachers