Ernest Rutherford was a New Zealand-born physicist who discovered the atomic nucleus through the 1909 gold foil experiment, establishing the nuclear model of the atom. He received the 1908 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on the disintegration of elements and radioactive substances.
Facts
Connections
Conducted
Source Ernest Rutherford, Biographical (Nobel Prize)
Critiqued
Rutherford's 1911 nuclear model, built on the gold foil scattering results, showed that atoms have a small dense nucleus and internal structure rather than being the featureless, indivisible units Dalton's 1808 theory assumed; the finding refines Dalton's postulate of indivisibility without disturbing his core claim that matter is made of discrete atoms combining in fixed ratios.
Founded
Source Wikipedia: Nuclear physics
Invented
Supervised Hans Geiger's development of the original 1908 particle-counting apparatus at the University of Manchester.
Source Geiger Counter (Wikipedia)
Member Of
Cavendish Professor and director of the laboratory, 1919 to 1937.
Works In
Source Ernest Rutherford, Biographical (Nobel Prize)
Sources
1. Ernest Rutherford, Biographical (Nobel Prize)
Geiger Counter (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia: Nuclear physics
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