Hinchingbrooke House

A few nice Abbey Brooks images I found:

Hinchingbrooke House

Image by sean_hickin
Decided to do a bit of heavy post processing today after a long exhausting walk. The view across the fields from Bromholme Lane.

From Wikipedia:
Hinchingbrooke House in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, was built around an 11th century nunnery. After the Reformation it passed into the hands of the Cromwell family, and subsequently, became the home of the Earls of Sandwich, including John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, reputedly the "inventor" of the modern sandwich.

Once a convent, Hinchingbrooke House is said to be haunted. The bridge over the Alconbury Brook named Nun’s bridge is said to be haunted also by one of the nuns which once lived at the old convent that is now Hinchingbrooke House. It’s said she is often accompanied by another ghost which resembles the appearance of a nurse. The myth goes that the nun had a lover, a monk that caused them to be murdered. In 1965 a married couple reported seeing the ghosts on the bridge, and again when they returned home the same night. Students attending the 6th form and also teachers have reported hearing voices of young children. In 2005 builders renovating the house refused to work during the night after apparent sightings of the Monk.

Ernest Rutherford

Image by cstmweb
1871-1937

"[At McGill,] I am expected to do a lot of original work and to form a research school in order to knock the shine out of the Yankees! . . . the physical laboratory is one of the best buildings of its kind in the world, and has a magnificent supply of apparatus."

I am a New Zealander by birth. In 1895, when I was 23 years old, holding three degrees from the University of New Zealand, I left my country for England and the Cavendish Lab at Cambridge University. By 1898, I had come to Canada. The physical laboratory at McGill University in Montreal was one of the best buildings of its kind in the world and had a magnificent range of equipment. Eventually, however, I found Montreal to be too far away from the principal centres of scientific research and I needed more research students than were available. So, when an opportunity at Manchester University in England was offered to me, I decided in 1907 to leave McGill. Later, in 1919, I returned to the Cavendish Lab at Cambridge as its head.

Although I am a physicist, I was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1908 for my investigation into the disintegration of the elements and the chemistry of radioactive substances. This work was done in Canada while I was at McGill, making me the first person to receive a Nobel Prize for work completed in Canada.

Science has no national boundaries, however. My work in Canada and England, as a New Zealander, has received international recognition. I have explained that radioactivity is the spontaneous disintegration of atoms, and I proposed a method of determining the age of a mineral sample through rate of decay. I have studied and determined the structure of the atom, (discovering its nucleus), and finally, I have "split" the atom (converting nitrogen to oxygen by bombarding it with alpha particles, also known as helium nuclei). And I also discovered radon while working at McGill with my first research student, Harriet Brooks.

When I died, my ashes were placed in London’s Westminster Abbey in Scientists Corner of the Nave where other great scientists are buried or commemorated including Newton, Faraday, Kelvin and J.J. Thompson. The latter had led the Cavendish lab when I first arrived in England, so many years before.

Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame

Claudia and I (me?)

Image by Viewsonic03
This is in the country where there was a 5th Century Abbey. You know I HAD to hate that. Why can’t I ever smile?

Courtesy of Brook