Ernest Rutherford

Ernest Rutherford was a New Zealand-born physicist who pioneered nuclear physics, discovered the atomic nucleus, and identified radon. His experiments established that atoms contain a tiny, positively charged nucleus.

Rutherford model: An atomic model in which a small, positively charged nucleus is surrounded by electrons. Rutherford’s scattering results overturned the plum pudding model and inspired this picture of the atom.
Rutherford scattering: The deflection of charged particles by the Coulomb force of an atomic nucleus. Rutherford used scattering angles to infer that positive charge was concentrated in a tiny nucleus.
University of Manchester: A public research university in Manchester, England, formed in 2004 from earlier institutions. Rutherford led its physics laboratory when he developed the nuclear model of the atom.
J. J. Thomson: An English physicist who discovered the electron and proposed the plum pudding model of the atom. Thomson supervised Rutherford at Cambridge and proposed the atomic model Rutherford’s work displaced.
Nuclear physics: The study of atomic nuclei, their constituents, and their interactions. Rutherford’s discoveries helped establish the field by making the nucleus an object of experimental study.
Alpha particle: A positively charged helium-4 nucleus emitted in some radioactive decays. Alpha particles served as projectiles in the scattering experiments that revealed the nucleus.
McGill University: A public research university in Montreal, Canada, founded in 1821. Rutherford’s work there on radioactive substances earned him the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Frederick Soddy: An English radiochemist who helped establish the concept of isotopes and the theory of radioactive decay. Soddy collaborated with Rutherford on the transformation of radioactive elements.
Nuclear transmutation: The conversion of one chemical element into another through a nuclear process. Rutherford and Thomas Royds showed that alpha particles were helium nuclei, linking radioactive decay to elemental change.
Radioactive decay: The spontaneous transformation of unstable atomic nuclei, accompanied by emitted particles or radiation. Rutherford measured decay and used its products to identify radioactive transformations.

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