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Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937)
Ernest Rutherford was born in Nelson, New Zealand in 1871. He was educated at the University of New Zealand and the University of Cambridge. Rutherford identified the types of radiation, which are alpha & beta particles, and gamma rays. He also discovered that alpha particles are He-4 nuclei, and his study of radioactivity led him to the idea that atoms have a dense nucleus with electrons circulating around them. In 1919 he bombarded nitrogen with alpha particles, and the products were an isotope of oxygen and protons; this was the first artificial nuclear reaction. In 1908 he was given the Nobel prize for chemistry, and from 1925 to 1930 he was the president of the Royal Society. |