Ernest was born in 1903 the son of a Methodist clergyman. A clergymans family in those days used to move about every three or so years, so through his early life Ernest would have seen a lot of Ireland.
He won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1951 for his work on atoms of lithium which he split using a particle accelerator
1903 - Born, Waterford, Ireland
1915 - Became a border at Methodist College, Belfast
1922 - Won a scholarship to Trinity, Dublin
1926 - Bachelors Degree in Mathematics and Science
1927 - Masters Degree in Mathematics and Science and became a research student at Trinity College, Cambridge
1931 - Awarded PhD
1934 - became a Fellow of Trinity College Dublin
1934 - Married Freda Wilson
1946 - Appointed Professor
1951 - Won Nobel Prize in Physics
1974 - Retired from Trinity and moved back to Belfast
1995 - Died in Belfast, aged 91