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Ernest Rutherford: Quick Facts

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Facts

Also Known As Lord Rutherford
Born August 30, 1871 • New Zealand
Died October 19, 1937 (aged 66) • Cambridge • England
Awards And Honors Copley Medal (1922) • Nobel Prize (1908)
Subjects Of Study Rutherford model • atom • radioactivity

Photos

Ernest Rutherford
Diagram illustrating the Rutherford gold-foil experiment, showing a beam of alpha particles directed at a thin gold foil with detectors arranged in an arc to observe scattering patterns. The inset explains how most alpha particles pass through with little deflection while some are deflected at small or large angles, consistent with Rutherford's atomic model where a dense nucleus causes scattering.
Diagram of the Rutherford atomic model for a neon atom, showing electrons orbiting a central nucleus. An inset magnifies the nucleus, depicting clustered protons and neutrons.
Ernest Rutherford.
Ernest Rutherford, oil painting by J. Dunn, 1932; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.
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