London. Ernest Rutherford presents the results of his studies on radioactivity at the Royal Institution. Kelvin, present in the room, is considered the foremost authority on the age of planet Earth. Rutherford presents experimental evidence that some of the elements he observed demonstrate an age far greater than what was believed (first by Kelvin) to be the Earth’s age. When he arrives to describe this passage cautiously, he discovers with relief that Lord Kelvin has dozed off. Rutherford will receive the Nobel Prize in 1908.
