Who Is Ernest Rutherford?

Making revolutionary discoveries that some only dreamed of Galileo did extraordinary things and pushed the limit of science.

The pioneering work of Becquerel in 1896 (the discovery of uranium), and the Curies (who subsequently discovered radium and polonium and the energy and heat given off by these new elements which they called radioactivity) led to the remarkable work of Ernest Rutherford. He was a physicist, whose experiments showed that some heavier elements spontaneously changed or decayed into lighter elements (unstable 'parent' elements giving off protons and neutrons to form a 'daughter' element) through the process of radioactivity. He discovered that radioactive materials decay at a very predictable rate, and that lead was the final decay product of uranium. Using Rutherford's ideas, Bertram Boltwood pioneered a method of radiometric dating in 1907. He hypothesized that since he knew how long it takes uranium to break down, he could measure the proportions of lead in uranium ores, and use his calculations to date how long those ores had existed,

Rutherford's issue was explaining the perplexing problem at the time of radioactivity of the spontaneous disintegration of atoms. One of his main

Ernest Rutherford is often ascribed as the greatest and most respectable experimental scientist, second to none. His unparalleled success is attributed to his revolutionary work regarding but not limited to the atom. Rutherford's ingenuity and dexterity was able to alter our insight of nature three remarkable times. He first set laws on radioactive decay, explaining it as the spontaneous disintegration of atoms. He then riveted the scientific community when he determined the structure of the atom.

Ernest Rutherford was born August 30th, 1871, on a farm in New Zealand. He was the fourth child born out of his twelve siblings. Before he started to make mass discoveries in the world of science, he got his degree from the University of New Zealand and began to teach. After teaching for awhile, Rutherford got a scholarship to Cambridge University in England to be the first graduate

Earnest Rutherford was responsible for an astonishing series of discoveries in the fields of radioactivity and nuclear physics.

The atomic model that was accepted by the scientific community before Rutherford's experiment consisted of a group of positive charge surrounded by electrons to balance the negative charge of the electrons. In Rutherford's experiment, he found that there was a center to atoms, later to be named the nucleus. Rutherford created his own model after stating that Thompson's was incorrect.

Ernest Rutherford was a New Zealand born British physicist who is famously known for “splitting the atom.” His work on the gold foil experiment contributed greatly to the model of the atom and helped develop the standard model of the atom to what we now use today. Without his contributions we would still be using the Plum Pudding model, an out dated and incorrect model, and we would have less of an understanding of how atoms form the world around us.

Niels Bohr was a famous physicist, born in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1885. He accomplished many things in his life, some of which include, winning a Nobel Prize in physics for his quantum mechanical model of the atom and developing the “liquid drop” model. Bohr was always interested in science, even at a young age. He went to Gammelholm School for his primary and secondary education in 1903. Bohr then went on to receive his doctorate from the University of Copenhagen in 1911.

“This work prepared the way for the discovery of the neutron by Sir James Chadwick and, above all, for the discovery in 1934 by Irene and Frederic Joliot-Curie of artificial radioactivity” (Britannica). Marie Curie had stockpiled enough radium so that her daughter, Irene Curie, and her husband discovered artificial radioactivity. This led to ease of locating tumors using radioactive isotopes of certain elements and to the discovery of the neutron in nucleus of atoms. It solved many occurrences that scientists couldn't explain, such as what happened during alpha decay and atomic masses of

Michael faraday was born on September 22 1791 and became one of the most influential scientists in history having received very little education since he was from a poor family. Michael Faraday became famous for having invented the electric motor. Faraday made oe of the most significant discoveries in the atomic theory. His discovery led people to the idea that atoms had an electrical component. Faraday conducted an experiment to prove this idea. In his experiment Faraday placed two opposite electrons in a solution of water containing a dissolved compound. One of the elements accumulated on one electrode of the dissolved compound and the other element deposited on the opposite electrode. To Faraday it was clear that electrical forces were responsible for the joining of atoms in compounds.

Ernest Rutherford, a Britain born physicist, is credited for the creation of nuclear physics. Rutherford, while studying the effect x-rays had on various metals, shortly after his discovery of radioactivity, was intrigued by the components of Uranium. In search of finding a way to count individual light particles, Rutherford discovered the effects of zinc sulfide.

Walter Bothe took notice of the emission of neutral radiation from beryllium when bombarded it with alpha particles, and this lead to a later discovery of the abruption between hydrogen atoms and paraffin using electrical radiation.

Ernest Rutherford, 31 year old New Zealander, partners with Frederick Soddy to try and solve the mystery of uranium. They find that uranium spits out chunks of itself, and these chunks are radiation. The uranium then transforms into a completely different element. When the uranium spit out chunks of itself, it was losing protons so it no longer has 92. This is called transmutation.

His discovery to radioactivity helped a lot of other scientists. If Henri hadn't discovered it Ernest Rutherford