Search results
Aug 26, 2024 · Ernest Rutherford, British physicist who discovered that the atom is mostly empty space surrounding a massive nucleus and who did many pioneering experiments with radioactivity. He was also known for predicting the existence of the neutron and calculating Avogadro’s number.
- Lawrence Badash
Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, OM, FRS, HonFRSE [7] (30 August 1871 – 19 October 1937), was a New Zealand physicist who was a pioneering researcher in both atomic and nuclear physics.
Apr 2, 2014 · A pioneer of nuclear physics and the first to split the atom, Ernest Rutherford was awarded the 1908 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his theory of atomic structure.
Learn about the life and achievements of Ernest Rutherford, the New Zealand-born physicist who discovered the nucleus of the atom and the disintegration of elements. He also developed the concept of radioactivity and the theory of atomic structure with Niels Bohr and others.
- Discovery of alpha and beta radiation. Starting in 1898 Rutherford studied the radiation emitted by uranium. He discovered two different types of radiation, which he named alpha and beta.
- The age of planet Earth and radiometric dating. Rutherford realized that Earth’s helium supply is largely produced by the decay of radioactive elements.
- Discovery of the atomic nucleus. After his move to the University of Manchester, Rutherford and two of his researchers – Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden – carried out in 1909 one of the landmark experiments in science – the gold foil experiment.
- Discovery of nuclear reactions. Rutherford achieved the first deliberate transformation of one element into another. In 1919 he converted nitrogen atoms into oxygen atoms by bombarding nitrogen with alpha particles.
Ernest Rutherford was a New Zealand-born physicist who discovered radioactivity and radioactive elements. He also formulated the theory of radioactive decay and transformation of elements.
Rutherford model, description of the structure of atoms proposed (1911) by the New Zealand-born physicist Ernest Rutherford. The model described the atom as a tiny, dense, positively charged core called a nucleus, around which the light, negative constituents, called electrons, circulate at some distance.
