Ernest Rutherford
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Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, OM, PC, FRS (August 30, 1871 – October 19, 1937) was a British physicist, who won a Nobel Prize for his work on nuclear physics, and for the theory of the structure of the atom.
Rutherford was one of the first researchers in nuclear physics, after the discovery of radiation by a French physicist by the name of Antoine Henri Becquerel in 1896. Rutherford discovered the three parts of radiation which he named Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. Rutherford also discovered that alpha particles were helium nuclei. Rutherford's study led to what we know today about the atomic structure, where the atom is a nucleus and electrons orbit around it.
In 1919, Rutherford made the world's first artifical nuclear reaction, where he put alpha particles with nitrogen gas and created particles of oxygen isotopes and protons. The important thing about the experiment was the fact that he changed nitrogen gas into oxygen gas.
Rutherford was the leader of the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge. He said that the nucleus was made up of protons and neutrons. In 1932 James Chadwick made an experiment at the Cavendish Lab that showed Rutherford was right.
[change] See also
- Rutherford model
[change] Other websites
- The Rutherford Museum
- Rutherford Scientist Supreme
- Ernest Rutherford @ nobel.se
- "Ernest Rutherford 1871 - 1937". A Science Odyesy, pbs.org.
