Biography of Physicist Ernest Rutherford

Ernest Rutherford was the first man to split an atom, transmuting one element into another. He performed experiments on radioactivity and is widely regarded as the Father of Nuclear Physics or Father of the Nuclear Age. Here is a brief biography of this important scientist: Born: August 30, 1871, Spring Grove, New Zealand Died: October 19, 1937, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England Ernest Rutherford Claims To Fame He discovered alpha and beta particles.He coined the terms alpha, beta, and gamma rays.Identified alpha particles as helium nuclei.He demonstrated radioactivity was the spontaneous disintegration of atoms.In 1903, Rutherford and Frederick Soddy  formulated the laws of radioactive decay  and described the disintegration theory of atoms.Rutherford is credited with discovering the radioactive gaseous element radon, while at McGill University in Montreal.Rutherford and Bertram Borden Boltwood (Yale University) proposed a decay series to categorize elements.In 1919, he became the first person to  artificially induce a nuclear reaction in a stable element.In 1920, he hypothesized the existence of the neutron.Lord Rutherford pioneered the orbital theory of the atom with his famous gold foil experiment, through which he discovered Rutherford scattering off the nucleus. This experiment was fundamental to the development of modern chemistry and physics, as it helped describe the nature o f the atomic nucleus. Rutherfords gold foil experiment, also known as the  Geiger–Marsden experiments, was not a single experiment, but a set of experiments conducted by Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden under Rutherfords supervision, between 1908 and 1913. By measuring how a beam of alpha particles was deflected when striking a thin sheet of gold foil, the scientists determined (a) the nucleus had a positive charge and (b) most of an atoms mass was in the nucleus. This is the Rutherford model of the atom.He is sometimes called the Father of Nuclear Physics. Notable Honors and Awards Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1908)  for his investigations into the disintegration of the elements, and the chemistry of radioactive substances - Affiliated with Victoria University, Manchester, United Kingdom Knighted (1914)Ennobled (1931)President of the Institute of Physics (1931)  After the war, Rutherford succeeded his mentor J. J. Thomson in the Cavendish Professorship at Cambridge  Element 104, rutherfordium, is named in his honorReceived several honorary fellowships and degreesBuried in Westminster Abbey Interesting Rutherford Facts Rutherford was the 4th of 12 children. He was the son of farmer James Rutherford and his wife, Martha. His parents were originally from Hornchurch, Essex, England, but they emigrated to New Zealand to raise flax and start a family.When Rutherfords birth was registered, his name was mistakenly spelled Earnest.After completing his degree at the university in New Zealand, his job was teaching rebellious children.He left teaching because he was awarded a scholarship to study at Cambridge University in England.He became  J. J. Thomsons first graduate student at the Cavendish Laboratory.Rutherfords initial experiments dealt with the transmission of radio waves.Rutherford and Thomson conducted electricity through gases and analyzed the results.He entered the new field of radioactivity research, just discovered by  Becquerel and Pierre and Marie Curie.Rutherford worked with many interesting scientists of the time, including Frederick Soddy, Hans Geiger, Neils Bohr,  H. G. J. Moseley, J ames Chadwick, and of course J. J. Thomson. Under Rutherfords supervision, James Chadwick discovered the neutron in 1932.His work during World War I focused on submarine detection and antisubmarine research.Rutherford was called Crocodile by his colleagues. The name referenced the scientists relentless forward thinking.Ernest Rutherford said he hoped scientists would not learn how to split the atom until  Ã¢â‚¬Å"man was living at peace with his neighbors.† As it turned out, fission was discovered only two years after Rutherfords death and was applied to make nuclear weapons.Rutherfords discoveries were the basis for the design and construction of the  largest, most energetic particle accelerator in the world -- the Large Hadron Collider or LHC.Rutherford was the first Canandian and Oceanian Nobel laureate. References Ernest Rutherford – Biography. NobelPrize.org.Eve, A. S.; Chadwick, J. (1938). Lord Rutherford 1871–1937. Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society. 2 (6): 394. doi:10.1098/rsbm.1938.0025Heilbron, J. L. (2003) Ernest Rutherford and the Explosion of Atoms. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 123–124. ISBN 0-19-512378-6.Rutherford, Ernest (1911). The scattering of alpha and beta particles by matter and the structure of the atom. Taylor Francis. p. 688.