Rutherford Hamlet "Lubby" Adkins (November 21, 1924 – February 6, 1998) was an American military aviator and university administrator who served with the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II.

He came home to complete his education and earn multiple degrees: he was the first African American to earn a PhD from The Catholic University in Washington D.C. Adkins went on to serve in many positions in higher education including as President of Knoxville College and Fisk University.

After his military service, Adkins returned to earn a Bachelor of Science in Physics from Virginia State University in 1947.

In 1993 Adkins returned to Fisk University as a physics professor and later the Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.

[5] In 1998, shortly after his death, the Rutherford Adkins scholarship fund was established at Fisk University.

His work focused on positronium formation, the onset of avalanches in moist rarefied atmospheres at high energy-to-pressure ratios and energy dissipation in the residual gases of a Z-pinch plasma.