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William Pickering – Kiwi Rocket Man

Ernest Rutherford grew up in a tiny town in New Zealand. He had a curious mind and yearned to further his education.

But his family could not afford to send him to high school or university. Three times he tried for scholarships and each time he failed.

However, with perseverance and patience he finally succeeded, and he’d go on to become one of the world’s greatest scientists.

Ernest Rutherford is a story about New Zealand’s most famous scientist and not giving up on your dreams.

From the award winning author Maria Gill with stunning illustrations by Alistair Hughes. This is Maria and Alistair’s third collaboration about a significant event in New Zealand and the world’s history. Other books include The King’s Medal and Ice Breaker!.

$21.99 incl. GST

1 in stock (can be backordered)

Description

Reviews

What Book Next ~ “Maria Gill and Alistair Hughes have brought another amazing New Zealander to life in a sumptuously illustrated sophisticated non-fiction picture book. The research Maria Gill undertakes for each of her titles always shows in her narrative non-fiction, and there is much more to discover about the Kiwi Rocket Man between the pages. A timeline in the back of the book (as in other titles by this creative duo), shares William Pickering’s extraordinary life”

Did you know that William Pickering went to the same school in New Zealand as Ernest Rutherford (who split the atom)?

He was a very accomplished scientist who was born in Aotearoa New Zealand, growing up wondering about the stars above us. Born in 1910, he grew up on a farm and then attended Wellington College. It was there that he first saw Science experiments and learnt how to build radios. When he first looked through a telescope, what he saw was even more wondrous. After his studies, a move to California launched his trajectory to become an aerospace engineer and The Kiwi Rocket Man.

First he helped the US Navy in WWII, then headed a team working on satellites then rockets, allowing other planets to be explored. Their work was incredibly important for future space travel and landings on the Moon and even Mars. Awarded honours by many presidents, an emperor and a queen, William Pickering had achieved and answered the questions he wondered about when he first looked through that telescope in New Zealand decades before.

Meet the Kiwi author

Maria GillFind out more about award-winning New Zealand author Maria Gill on her author page.

Additional information

Weight120 g
Dimensions25 × 25 cm
Format

Hardcover edition

ISBN

9781869665364

Page count

44

Published by

Upstart Press

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