Ernest Rutherford was a New Zealand-born British physicist born on this day in 1871. He came to be known as the father of nuclear physics.

Did you know that:

• Gottlieb Daimler received a patent for a motorcycle on this day in 1885
• Hubert Cecil Booth patented the powered vacuum cleaner on this day in 1901
• IBM announced it would not oppose Microsoft’s attempt to trademark the name “Windows” on this day in 1994