The Crocodile
Why a Crocodile?
A striking feature of the old Cavendish site is the carving of a crocodile on the outer wall of the Mond Laboratory. The Laboratory was built in 1933 by the Royal Society for Kapitza to continue his work into intense magnetic fields. During the building work, those passing the lab were suprised to see a figure in a brown monk's habit busily chipping away at the brickwork behind a tarpaulin screen. This was Eric Gill who had been commissioned by Kapitza to carve both a plaque of Rutherford and this Crocodile - "The Crocodile" being Kapitza's pet name for Rutherford, either because of his fear of having his head bitten off by him, or because his voice could be relied upon to precede his visits, just like the crocodile's alarm clock in "Peter Pan".
The image shown here is cropped from a Photograph taken by Mr. Keith Papworth