“… the first real hero of the atomic age, if not the first personage on the scene, was Ernest Rutherford” for his work with subatomic particles.

The above quote is from Bill Bryson’s book A Short History of Nearly Everything (which is a joy and a half) and this post is concerned with the supreme importance of creativity and endurance. Apparently, Ernest Rutherford’s math skills were not on par for a typical nuclear physicist, and his scientific mind was said to be less than brilliant, but still he managed to excel in his successful career winning many honors and awards including the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1908 for his investigations into the disintegration of the elements, and the chemistry of radioactive substances.

So how did he manage that? It seems his genius shone in his own brand of creativity.

“According to his longtime colleague James Chadwick, discoverer of the neutron, he wasn’t even particularly clever at experimentation. He was simply tenacious and open-minded. For brilliance he substituted shrewdness and a kind of daring. His mind, in the words of one biographer, was ‘always operating out towards the frontiers, as far as he could see, and that was a great deal further than most other men.’ “

For those of us with strong leanings in the arts (oh, the humanities!) and our reliance on keen, penetrating, creative awareness, we can take a tip from this Nobel Prize winner and be receptive to distant-thinking possibilities, be willing to persevere day after day, night after night as we muddle through in our strive for perfection.

It seems atomic age timing was on Rutherford’s side, too, but it’s good to know that really hard work and a never-give-up attitude can pay off in the end.