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{{Infobox Scientist
|box_width = 300px
|name = Ernest Rutherford
|image = Ernest Rutherford2.jpg
|image_size = 200px
|caption = Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson (1871-1937)
|birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1871|8|30}}
|birth_place = ], ]
|death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1937|10|19|1871|8|30}}
|death_place = ], ]
|residence = ], ], ]
|citizenship = ]
|nationality = British-New Zealander
|ethnicity = ]
|fields = ]-]
|workplaces = ]</br>]
|alma_mater = ]</br>]
|doctoral_advisor = <!--There was no PhD at Cambridge until 1919-->
|academic_advisors = ]</br>]
|doctoral_students = ]</br> ]</br>]</br>]</br> ]
|notable_students = ]</br>] </br>]</br>] </br>]</br>]</br>] </br>] </br>]</br>] </br>]</br>]</br>] </br> ] </br>] </br>]</br>]</br>]</br> ]</br>]</br>]
|known_for = ]</br>]</br>]</br>]</br>]</br>]</br>{{nowrap|]}}
|author_abbrev_bot =
|author_abbrev_zoo =
|influences =
|influenced = ]</br>]</br>]
|awards = ] (1905)</br>] (1908) </br> ] (1913)</br>] (1922)
|religion =
|signature = ernest_rutherford_sig.jpg
|footnotes =
}}

'''Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson''', ], ] (30 August 1871–19 October 1937) was a ] ] who became known as the father of ].<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/514229/Ernest-Rutherford-Baron-Rutherford-of-Nelson-of-Cambridge | title = Ernest Rutherford: British physicist | work = Encyclopædia Britannica }}</ref> He discovered that atoms have a small charged ], and thereby pioneered the ] (or planetary model, which later evolved into the ] or orbital model) of the ], through his discovery of ] with his ]. He was awarded the ] in 1908. He is widely credited as splitting the atom in 1917 and leading the ] in a controlled manner by two students under his direction, ] and ] in 1932.

Jordan and callum like it up the rear

==Early years==
Ernest Rutherford was the son of James Rutherford, a farmer, and his wife Martha Thompson, originally from ], ], England.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | first=A.H. | last=McLintock | encyclopedia=An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand | title=Rutherford, Sir Ernest (Baron Rutherford of Nelson, O.M., F.R.S.) | edition=1966 | date=18 September 2007 | url=http://www.teara.govt.nz/1966/R/RutherfordSirErnestbaronRutherfordOf/RutherfordSirErnestbaronRutherfordOf/en | publisher=Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand | isbn=978-0-478-18451-8 | accessdate=2008-04-02}}</ref> James had immigrated from ], Scotland, "to raise a little flax and a lot of children". Ernest was born at Spring Grove (now ]), near ], New Zealand. His first name was mistakenly spelled ''Earnest'' when his birth was registered.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | last=Campbell | first=John | author= | authorlink= | coauthors= | editor= | encyclopedia=The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography | title=Rutherford, Ernest 1871-1937 | url=http://www.dnzb.govt.nz/dnzb/default.asp?Find_Quick.asp?PersonEssay=3R37 | edition=1996 | date=22 June 2007 | publisher=New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage, | volume=3 | isbn=0-478-18451-4 | accessdate=2008-04-02}}</ref>

He studied at Havelock School and then ] and won a ] to study at ], ] where he was president of the ], among other things. After gaining his ], ] and ], and doing two years of research at the forefront of electrical technology, in 1895 Rutherford travelled to England for postgraduate study at the ], ] (1895–1898),<ref>{{Venn|id=RTRT895E|name=Rutherford, Ernest}}</ref> and he briefly held the world record for the distance over which electromagnetic waves could be detected.

During the investigation of ] he coined the terms ] and ] in 1899 to describe the two distinct types of ] emitted by ] and ]. These rays were differentiated on the basis of penetrating power.

==Middle years==

In 1898 Rutherford was appointed to the chair of physics at ] in ], Canada, where he did the work that gained him the ] in 1908. In 1900 he gained a ] from the University of New Zealand, and from 1900 to 1903 he was joined at McGill by the young ] (], 1921) and they collaborated on research into the ] of ]. Rutherford had demonstrated that ] was the spontaneous disintegration of ]s. He noticed that a sample of radioactive material invariably took the same amount of time for half the sample to decay—its "]"—and created a practical application using this constant rate of decay as a ], which could then be used to help determine the age of the ], which turned out to be much older than most of the scientists at the time believed.

In 1900 he married Mary Georgina Newton (1876–1945); they had one daughter, Eileen Mary (1901–1930), who married ].

In 1903, Rutherford realized that a type of radiation from ] discovered (but not named) by French chemist ] in 1900, must represent something different from alpha rays and beta rays, due to its very much greater penetrating power. Rutherford gave this third type of radiation its name also: the ].

In 1907 Rutherford took the ] of physics at the ]. There along with ] and ] he carried out the ], which demonstrated the nuclear nature of atoms. It was his interpretation of this experiment that led him to formulate the ] of the atom—that a very small positively-]d ] was ]ed by ]. In 1919 he became the first person to transmute one ] into another when he converted ] into ] through the ] <sup>14</sup>N + α → <sup>17</sup>O + p. In 1921, while working with ] (who postulated that electrons moved in specific orbits), Rutherford theorized about the existence of ]s, which could somehow compensate for the repelling effect of the positive charges of ]s by causing an attractive ] and thus keeping the nuclei from breaking apart. Rutherford's theory of ]s was proved in 1932 by his associate ], who in 1935 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for this discovery.

==Later years==
He was ] in 1914. In 1916 he was awarded the ]. In 1919 he returned to the Cavendish as Director. Under him, Nobel Prizes were awarded to ] for discovering the neutron (in 1932), ] and ] for an experiment which was to be known as ''splitting the atom'' using a ], and ] for demonstrating the existence of the ]. He was admitted to the ] in 1925 and in 1931 was created '''Baron Rutherford of Nelson''', of Cambridge in the County of Cambridge, a title that became extinct upon his unexpected death in hospital following an operation for an ] (1937). Since he was a peer, British protocol at that time required that he be operated on by a titled doctor, and the delay cost him his life.<ref>{{cite web | author=D.A. Ramsay | title=Book review of Rutherford, Scientist Supreme by J. Campbell | url=http://isi.cbs.nl/sbr/sbrRev2001.htm#4 | work=ISI Short Book Reviews | publisher=International Statistical Institute | date=2001 | accessdate=2008-04-02}}</ref> He is interred in ], alongside ], and near ].

==Legacy==
], ]]]
] at the original Cavendish site in Cambridge.]]
Rutherford's research, along with that of his protégé ], was instrumental in the convening of the ] to develop the first ]s.

Many items bear Rutherford's name in honour of his life and work:
; Scientific discoveries
* the element ], Rf, Z=104. (1997)<ref>{{cite news | author=Michael Freemantle | title=ACS Article on Rutherfordium | url=http://pubs.acs.org/cen/80th/print/rutherfordium.html | work=Chemical & Engineering News | publisher=American Chemical Society | date=2003 | accessdate=2008-04-02}}</ref>
; Institutions
* ], a scientific research laboratory near ], ], UK.
* ], a school in ], New Zealand
* ], a college at the ] in ], UK
* the Rutherford Institute for Innovation at the ], UK
* Rutherford Intermediate School, Wanganui, New Zealand
; Buildings
* a building of the modern ] at the ], UK
* The Ernest Rutherford Physics Building at ], ], Canada<ref>{{cite web | author= | title=ErnestRutherford Physics Building | url=http://cac.mcgill.ca/campus/buildings/Rutherford_Physics.html | work=Virtual McGill | publisher=McGill University | date=24 January 2000 | accessdate=2008-04-02}}</ref>
* a physics classroom in Portsmouth Grammar School, Hampshire, UK.
* the physics and chemistry building at the ], New Zealand
* The Coupland Building at the ] where Rutherford worked was renamed The Rutherford Building in 2006
* The Rutherford lecture theatre in the Schuster building at the ]
* The Rutherford Building, Sixth form center and refectory at ], Bedford, UK
; Halls of residence
* Rutherford Residence Hall at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison, NJ, USA.
* a student hall at ], Leicestershire, UK.
* ], a boarding house at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.
; ]
* at Cashmere High School, ], New Zealand
* at Corran School for Girls, Auckland, New Zealand
* at ], Hong Kong
* at ], ], New Zealand
* at ], ], New Zealand
* at Nelson College, New Zealand, his own high school
* at Rangiora High School, ], New Zealand
* at Rangitoto College, ], New Zealand
* at ], ], New Zealand
* at ], ], New Zealand
* at ], London, England
* at ], ]
* at ], New Zealand
* at Tauranga Girls' College, New Zealand
* at ], Richmond, New Zealand
* at Westburn School in Christchurch
* at ], Upper Hutt, New Zealand
* at ], Wellington, New Zealand<ref></ref>
; Major streets
* ], a residential street in ], ], UK.<!-- Deleted image removed: ] -->
* Lord Rutherford Road in ], New Zealand - his birthplace.
* Rutherford Road in the biotech district of ], USA.
* Rutherford Street in Nelson, New Zealand.
; Other
* The crater ] on the Moon, and the crater ] on Mars
* The Rutherford Award at ] for excellence in ] ], Australia
* Image on New Zealand ].
* Rutherford was the subject of a play by Stuart Hoar.
* On the side of the Mond Laboratory on the site of the original ] in Cambridge, there is an engraving in Rutherford's memory in the form of a crocodile, this being the nickname given to him by its commissioner, his colleague ]. The initials of the engraver, ], are visible within the mouth.
* The Rutherford Foundation, a charitable trust set up by the ] to support research in science and technology.<ref>http://www.royalsociety.org.nz/Site/funding/rutherford/default.aspx</ref>

== Publications ==
*''Radio-activity'' (1904), 2nd ed. (1905), ISBN 978-1-60355-058-1
*''Radioactive Transformations'' (1906), ISBN 978-1-60355-054-3
*''Radiations from Radioactive Substances'' (1919)
*''The Electrical Structure of Matter'' (1926)
*''The Artificial Transmutation of the Elements'' (1933)
*''The Newer Alchemy'' (1937)

==See also==
* ]
* ], his great grandson.

== References ==
{{Reflist|2}}
==Further reading==
*{{cite journal | title=Lord Ernest Rutherford of Nelson (1871-1937) | author=R.H. Cragg | journal=Royal Institute of Chemistry Reviews | volume= 4| issue=4 | pages=129–145 | year=1971 | doi=10.1039/RR9710400129}}
* J. Campbell (1999) Rutherford: Scientist Supreme, AAS Publications, Christchurch
*{{cite journal | title=The Rutherford Memorial Lecture, 1954. Rutherford-His Life and Work, 1871-1937 | author= E. Marsden | journal= Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A | volume=226 | issue=1166 | pages=283–305 | year=1954 | url=http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0080-4630%2819541123%29226%3A1166%3C283%3ATRML1R%3E2.0.CO%3B2-G | doi=10.1098/rspa.1954.0254}}
* Rhodes, Richard (1986). ''The Making of the Atomic Bomb''. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-44133-7
* Wilson, David (1983). ''Rutherford. Simple Genius'', Hodder & Stoughton, ISBN 0-340-23805-4

== External links ==
{{sisterlinks}}
* from Nobel prize official website
* ''The Chemical Nature of the Alpha Particles from Radioactive Substances''
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* Article on Rutherford's contribution to dating the Age of the Earth
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* - includes link to short biography and other sources (NZHistory.net.nz)

{{Nobel Prize in Chemistry Laureates 1901-1925}}
{{Royal Society presidents 1900s}}

{{Persondata
|NAME=Rutherford, Ernst
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES=1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson
|SHORT DESCRIPTION=New Zealander nuclear physicist
|DATE OF BIRTH=30 August 1871 CE
|PLACE OF BIRTH=Spring Grove, near Nelson, New Zealand
|DATE OF DEATH=19 October 1937
|PLACE OF DEATH=Cambridge, England
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rutherford, Ernest}}
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Revision as of 13:24, 14 September 2009

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