🎂 Ernest Rutherford is born (1871)
Where: Brightwater, New Zealand
Nearby on the globe: The Beehive, Wellington → 🌍 Open the 3D globe
📅 On This Day: August 30
August 30, 1871: Ernest Rutherford is born. On 30 August 1871, Ernest Rutherford was born in Brightwater, near Nelson, New Zealand. He discovered that every atom has a tiny, heavy nucleus at its centre, and his face is now on New Zealand's $100 note. Rutherford's Den in Christchurch is the basement room where he did experiments as a student.
✨ More events on this day
- 1873 🧭 Austrian explorers Julius von Payer and Karl Weyprecht discovered the icy islands of Franz Josef Land in the Arctic Ocean in 1873.
- 1909 🌿 Charles Walcott discovered the Burgess Shale fossils in the Canadian Rockies in 1909, revealing strange sea creatures that lived over 500 million years ago.
- 1983 🚀 Space Shuttle Challenger made the program's first night launch in 1983, and Guion Bluford became the first African American to go to space.
🧠 Question of the day
Where does Rutherford's face appear?
- A football
- New Zealand's $100 note
- On the Moon
Show the answer
Answer: New Zealand's $100 note
🎂 Landmarks that opened on August 30
🐾 World day: International Whale Shark Day
The whale shark is the biggest fish in the world, yet it is gentle and eats tiny plankton.
Questions
What happened on August 30?
August 30, 1871: Ernest Rutherford is born. It happened in Brightwater, New Zealand.
Which landmarks opened on August 30?
Foshay Tower (opened 1929), Hassan II Mosque (completed 1993), Baiterek Tower (completed 2002).
In the game, the "Today on Earth" panel shows this story on its day, with a question to answer and a place to fly to.