Kiwi inventors are celebrated world-wide

We kiwi pride ourselves on our ingenuity and innovation and Christchurch has its share of them – either because they lived or studied here.

Ernest Rutherford studied here: see his den at the Arts Centre

The Hamilton Jet boat and the ski plane are examples of New Zealand inventions that embody the Kiwi sense of adventure by providing unique ways to experience the outdoors – and both inventions were quickly adopted by the rest of the world.

As popular local culture holds, Kiwis can do anything with “a piece of number eight wire” – the fencing wire that New Zealand farmers found many uses for is firmly entrenched in the heritage of this pioneering nation where innovation was essential to survival.

Here are just three of the locals we’re proud of:

Tourists read about some of our famous sons and daughters

Atomic whizz – Ernest Rutherford
New Zealand scientist and Nobel Prize winner Baron Ernest Rutherford was the first in the world to split the atom in 1919.

During his lifetime, Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937) was responsible for a series of discoveries in the fields of radioactivity and nuclear physics that helped shape modern science. Einstein described Rutherford as “the man who tunnelled into the very material of God”. See Rutherford’s den at the Christchurch Arts Centre.

Aviation pioneer – Harry Wigley
New Zealand tourism pioneer Sir Henry [Harry] Wigley made aviation history in 1955 when he made a world-first snow landing in a plane with modified retractable skis. Wigley had spent years perfecting the skis before he piloted the first ski plane from Mt Cook village to the Tasman Glacier.

Wigley was a World War II fighter pilot, mountain climber, national downhill skiing champion and an astute businessman. Less than a year after the retractable ski prototype was tested, the Mount Cook Company ski plane business was up and running.

Jet-boat – William Hamilton
As a small boy, William Hamilton had dreamed of a boat that would carry him up New Zealand’s swift flowing rivers. His dream became reality with the 1954 development of a revolutionary new style of boating – the world’s first propellerless boat. Since then, the Hamilton Jet has been the means to explore and access waterways all over the world.

Sir William Hamilton went on to invent the hay lift, an advanced air compressor, a machine to smooth ice on skating ponds, and the water sprinkler amongst other things.