James C. Eckert

       Professor of Physics

       Harvey Mudd College

       Contact Information:
       E-mail: james_eckert@hmc.edu.
       Phone: 909-607-2726.
       Fax: 909-621-8887.

       Mail:
                     Physics Department
                     Harvey Mudd College 
                     301 E. 12th Street 
                     Claremont, CA 91711

     Ernest Rutherford trained many of the most brilliant physicists of the twentieth century.  He strolled around the laboratory, humming "Onward Christian Soldiers" under his breath, urging his students on with the constant litany of “When will you get results?  I want you to give me results."  Legend had it that one university bricklayer walked off a job in Rutherford's lab with the complaint that some rude old man kept coming up to demand why he wasn't getting results.

        Rutherford kept students' noses to the grindstone of experiment, and discouraged idle speculation.  As for budding theorists they could go elsewhere.  Rutherford's battle cry was, "Don't let me catch anyone in my laboratory talking about the universe!"