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• Rutherford
  Rutherford

  noun

  Daniel, 1749–1819, Scottish physician and chemist: discoverer of nitrogen.
• rutherford
  rutherford

  noun

  a unit of activity equal to the quantity of a radioactive nuclide required to produce one million disintegrations per second

Rutherford

American  

[ruhth-er-ferd, ruhth-] / ˈrʌð ər fərd, ˈrʌθ- /

noun

1. Daniel, 1749–1819, Scottish physician and chemist: discoverer of nitrogen.

2. Ernest 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, 1871–1937, English physicist, born in New Zealand: Nobel Prize in chemistry 1908.

3. John Sherman Johnny, born 1938, U.S. racing-car driver.

4. Joseph Franklin, 1869–1942, U.S. leader of Jehovah's Witnesses.

5. Dame Margaret, 1892–1972, British actress.

6. a city in NE New Jersey.

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rutherford ¹ British  

/ ˈrʌðəfəd /

noun

1.  rd.  a unit of activity equal to the quantity of a radioactive nuclide required to produce one million disintegrations per second

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Rutherford ² British  

/ ˈrʌðəfəd /

noun

1. Ernest , 1st Baron. 1871–1937, British physicist, born in New Zealand, who discovered the atomic nucleus (1909). Nobel prize for chemistry 1908

2. Dame Margaret . 1892–1972, British stage and screen actress. Her films include Passport to Pimlico (1949), Murder She Said (1962), and The VIPs (1963)

3. Mark , original name William Hale White . 1831–1913, British novelist and writer, whose work deals with his religious uncertainties: best known for The Autobiography of Mark Rutherford (1881) and the novel The Revolution in Tanner's Lane (1887)

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Rutherford Scientific  

/ rŭth′ər-fərd /

1. New Zealand-born British physicist who was a pioneer of subatomic physics. He discovered the atomic nucleus and named the proton. Rutherford demonstrated that radioactive elements give off three types of rays, which he named alpha, beta, and gamma, and invented the term half-life to measure the rate of radioactive decay. For this work he was awarded the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1908.

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Etymology

Origin of rutherford

C20: named after Ernest _Rutherford

Example Sentences

Rutherford, who faced a 32-year mandatory minimum and was sentenced to 42.5 years, would have faced a mandatory minimum of 14 years today.

From Slate • May 29, 2026

Hello Massapequa, and the apartment over the store in Rutherford, and the Lincoln Road Restaurant and the June Taylor Dancers, one of whom gave me such a lift so long ago.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 28, 2026

Farm owner Mark Rutherford, who runs Camp Llandudno in Conwy county, is also concerned his site could be impacted as his main field is in a flood zone.

From BBC • May 25, 2026

"What surprised us most was how clearly the high-mass black holes stand out as a separate population," recalls co-author Dr. Isobel Romero-Shaw, Ernest Rutherford Fellow at Cardiff University.

From Science Daily • May 8, 2026

It would prevail for fourteen years, until Rutherford laid it to rest.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik