Ernest Rutherford

Ernest Rutherford was a scientist considered to be the "father of nuclear physics", (AUDIO: 1963: The Assassination Games) having managed to split the atom (TV: The Lazarus Experiment) at some point in the 20th century. (AUDIO: Fugitive of the Daleks)

In 1911, Rutherford attended a scientific conference in Brussels, alongside fellow scientists Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, Hendrik Lorentz and Max Planck. The Robot Doctor planned to use his self-destruct mechanism to destroy them, in order to draw in the real First Doctor, but he was talked down by Vicki Pallister. (AUDIO: Fugitive of the Daleks)

Legacy

In 1963, the Seventh Doctor was elected to Parliament on a platform of nuclear disarmament. He used the alias John Rutherford as a reference to Ernest Rutherford. (AUDIO: 1963: The Assassination Games)

Preparing to regress his physical age using a hypersonic soundwave manipulator, Professor Richard Lazarus announced to his audience that this was the most important advance since Rutherford split the atom. (TV: The Lazarus Experiment)