Ernest+Rutherford

=Ernest Rutherford: His Life and Work=

= Ernest Rutherford: His Life and Work =

Personal History
Ernest Rutherford was born august 30, 1871 to parents James Rutherford and Martha Thompson in Nelson, New Zealand. Rutherford received his earliest education at the age of 16. In 1889, Ernest won a university scholarship and graduated M.A. with a double first in mathematics and physical science. In that same year, he was awarded the exhibition science scholarship, which allowed him to attend Trinity College as a research student under J.J. Thomson. Then an opportunity came when the Macdonald Chair of physics became vacant, and so he left for McGill University in Montreal. Rutherford later returned to England to become Langworthy Professor of physics in the University of Manchester and would later receive an invitation to succeed Sir Joseph Thomson as Cavendish Professor of Physics at Cambridge. His first research projects were concerned with the magnetic properties of iron when exposed to high frequency oscillations He was the first to design highly original experiments with high frequency alternating currents and described a time apparatus capable of measuring time intervals of a hundredth thousand of a second. During his first spell at Cavendish labs, he invented a detector for electromagnetic waves and worked jointly with Thomson on the behaviour of ions in x-ray treated gases, the mobility of ions in relation to the strength of an electric field and other related topics such as photoelectric effect. I the year of 1898, Ernest discovered the existence and properties of alpha and beta rays. With R.B. Owens he studied the emanation of thorium and discovered thoron, a new noble gas. In 1900, Frederick Soddy arrived from oxford and collaborated with him on the disintegration theory, which regards radioactivity as an atomic, not molecular, process. Because of this, a number of new radioactive substances were discovered. In 1910, his investigations into the scattering of alpha rays and the nature of the inner structure of the atom led to postulation of the concept of the nucleus, his greatest contribution to physics. In 1912, Niels Bohr where he adapted his nuclear structure to Max Planck’s quantum theory and so obtained an atomic structure theory, which remains valid to this day, joined him. Together with H.G Moseley, he used cathode rays to bombard atoms of various elements, which showed the inner structures correspond with groups of lines, which give elements their characteristics, allowing them to be assigned an atomic number and their properties defined by this number. Then he discovered that the nuclei of light elements could be disintegrated by energetic alpha particle impacts coming from a radioactive source, during the process, fast protons were emitted. Blackett later proved that the nitrogen used in Rutherford’s experiment was transformed into oxygen, making him the first to deliberately transmute one element into another. As an inspiring leader, he would lead numerous future Nobel Prize winners towards their great achievements in science. C.D. Ellis said, “The majority of experiments at Cavendish were started by Rutherford’s direct and indirect suggestion.” Rutherford also published many books on his experiments. He was knighted, appointed to the order of merit, became first Baron Rutherford of Nelson, New Zealand, and Cambridge. He also received honorary doctorates from twenty different universities. He remained active and working for the rest of his life would go on to marry Mary Newton and produce a daughter, Eileen. Ernest Rutherford would die on October 19, 1937 at the age of 66. His remains were buried at Westminster abbey by Lord Kelvin and west of Sir Isaac Newton’s tomb.

Interesting Facts
·   When Ernest Rutherford was told that he won a scholarship to Cambridge University, he was working on his family’s farm in New Zealand, His reaction was to stand up straight and declare, “I’ve just dug my last potato!” ·   So cutting edge were Rutherford’s experiments, he began constructing devices to measure atomic activity. ·   In 1903, his paper on “radioactive charge” was published in a London journal and opened the field of atomic physics. ·   His conclusion that atoms could be transformed and each could potentially carry a tremendous earned him the Nobel Prize in chemistry. ·   Rutherford described his splitting of the atom as having “broken the machine and touched the ghost of matter.” ·   Albert Einstein called Ernest Rutherford, “a second Newton.” ·   After his death in 1937, the New York Times said, “he was universally acknowledged as the leading explorer of the vast infinitely complex universe within the atom, a universe he was first to penetrate”. ·   He earned honorary doctorates from the universities of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, McGill, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Melbourne, Yale, Glasgow, Giessen, Copenhagen, Cambridge, Dublin, Durham, and oxford, Liverpool, Toronto, Bristol, Cape Town, London and Leeds. ·  Rutherford’s researches, along with that of his protégé Mark Oliphant, were instrumental in the convening of the Manhattan project to develop the first nuclear weapons.

Major Experiments
Ernest Rutherford's research included his discoveries of the Alpha and Beta particles, his discovery of the radioactive "half-life" of certain unstable elements, his work on the atomic theory, and, during the First World War, his method of finding German submarines through radio monitoring. Rutherford discovered that radioactive elements gave off two types of radiation: Alpha and Beta particles. Alpha particles were discovered to be a form of helium, but without any electrons, while Beta particles were simply electrons. Rutherford then published a work along with British scientist Frederick Soddy on his research. In the work there was a formula proving the dependence of radiation on time. In this he described the "half-life" of elements and the way to use that to discover the age of the material studied. Using this he proved the earth to be much older then anyone else had believed at the time. Rutherford's atomic theory came about when his colleagues constructed machines that were capable of measuring the amount of alpha rays passing a point. Using this he experimented with Alpha rays, firing them through a thin sheet of gold foil. He discovered that while the majority of the Alpha particles passed right through the foil, approximately 1 in 20,000 were deflected from their courses. From this information he designed a model of the atom that placed the majority of the weight at the centre of the atom, with almost nothing surrounding it. He then deduced that the majority of the atom is an empty space surrounded by the electron shells, at the centre of which lies the nucleus, though he himself never mentioned it in his original paper on the subject, instead naming it a "charge concentration," while in the book he later published he used the word only once.