This medal issued by the Institut de France features a bust of Athena on the obverse. In 1927 it was awarded to one of Canterbury University’s most distinguished students, Sir Ernest Rutherford, on his election as a foreign associate member of the Académie des Sciences.
Rutherford made three major advances that have shaped modern science and particularly nuclear physics: discovering that elements can change their structure (the basis of radioactivity), identifying how the atom is structured and, most famously, splitting the atom.
Athena / Minerva is presented here in neoclassical style and displays the simplicity and calm grandeur of the period and of the goddess. The serpent adorning her helmet refers to wisdom and the ancient cult of the goddess. On the reverse, the olive wreath surmounted with a star symbolises victory and dedication.
