Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson OM, FRS (30 August 1871 19 October 1937) was a New Zealand-born British chemist and physicist who became known as the father of nuclear physics.In early work he discovered the concept of radioactive half-life, proved that radioactivity involved the transmutation of one chemical element to another, and also differentiated and named alpha and beta radiation.This work was done at McGill University in Canada.It is the basis for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry he was awarded in 1908 "for his investigations into the disintegration of the elements, and the chemistry of radioactive substances".
Rutherford performed his most famous work after he had moved to the U.K.in 1907 and was already a Nobel laureate.In 1911, he postulated that atoms have their positive charge concentrated in a very small nucleus, and thereby pioneered the Rutherford model of the atom, through his discovery and interpretation of Rutherford scattering in his gold foil experiment.He is widely credited with first "splitting the atom" in 1917 in a nuclear reaction between nitrogen and alpha particles, in which he also discovered (and named) the proton.This led to the first experiment to split the nucleus in a fully controlled manner, performed by two students working under his direction, John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton, in 1932.
A series of public lectures taking place next week will look at the legacy of Rutherford’s discovery and give citizens of Manchester the chance to join nuclear physicists from around the world in celebrating his 100-year-old model of the atom.
The lectures will explain how fundamental physics has moved on from Rutherford’s discovery to the huge and elaborate experiments taking place in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC); how medical physics is underpinned by our improved understanding of the atom; and, finally, how power is generated by the splitting of the atom, and nuclear power’s safety record.
The public lectures accompany the Institute of Physics’ (IOP) academic conference, в
Rutherford performed his most famous work after he had moved to the U.K.in 1907 and was already a Nobel laureate.In 1911, he postulated that atoms have their positive charge concentrated in a very small nucleus, and thereby pioneered the Rutherford model of the atom, through his discovery and interpretation of Rutherford scattering in his gold foil experiment.He is widely credited with first "splitting the atom" in 1917 in a nuclear reaction between nitrogen and alpha particles, in which he also discovered (and named) the proton.This led to the first experiment to split the nucleus in a fully controlled manner, performed by two students working under his direction, John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton, in 1932.
A series of public lectures taking place next week will look at the legacy of Rutherford’s discovery and give citizens of Manchester the chance to join nuclear physicists from around the world in celebrating his 100-year-old model of the atom.
The lectures will explain how fundamental physics has moved on from Rutherford’s discovery to the huge and elaborate experiments taking place in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC); how medical physics is underpinned by our improved understanding of the atom; and, finally, how power is generated by the splitting of the atom, and nuclear power’s safety record.
The public lectures accompany the Institute of Physics’ (IOP) academic conference, в
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