Prof Fowler, of the earth sciences department at the University of London, is the great-granddaughter of Ernest Rutherford, New Zealand's most eminent scientist and winner of the 1908 Nobel Prize.
She is touring the country 100 years later, as the 2008 Royal Society of New Zealand Distinguished Speaker.
And this week she gave a public lecture at the University of Otago on "Rutherford in the 21st century".
Asked about suggestions science was becoming less popular in some New Zealand high schools, Prof Fowler said some young people were being "turned off" science by negative misconceptions.
"They think it's hard. They think it's boring. Science isn't hard. Science is fun. It's kind of like being a detective," she said in an interview.
Scientists hunted for clues and asked themselves, "How do I put this story together?"
"Most people who get into it find it's really exciting. It's not men in white lab coats looking like geeks," she said.
Rutherford discovered the atomic nucleus and dominated 20th century physics.
His defence research work, including in submarine detection, greatly helped Britain during World War 1 and he later helped rescue more than 1000 scientists, mainly Jewish, from Nazi Germany.
Prof Fowler said Rutherford was a "very good leader" in science, working well with teams of people.
"They came from all over the world to work with him and learn from him."
And many of the people who worked with him went on to gain Nobel prizes themselves, she added.
