"I came into the room, which was half dark, and presently spotted Lord Kelvin in the audience and realized that I was in for trouble at the last part of the speech dealing with the age of the earth, where my views conflicted with his . To my relief, Kelvin fell fast asleep , but as I came to the important point, I saw the old bird sit up , open an eye and cock a baleful glance at me! Then a sudden inspiration came, and I said Lord Kelvin had limited the age of the earth, provided no new source of heat was discovered . That prophetic utterance refers to what we are now considering tonight, radium! Behold ! the old boy beamed up on me."
~ Ernest Rutherford
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