Misplaced Pages

Ernest Rutherford: Difference between revisions

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Browse history interactively← Previous editNext edit →Content deleted Content addedVisualWikitext
Revision as of 21:29, 21 September 2009 view source165.24.252.40 (talk) →Early years← Previous edit Revision as of 16:02, 22 September 2009 view source 169.157.188.151 (talk)No edit summaryNext edit →
Line 14: Line 14:
|ethnicity = ] |ethnicity = ]
|fields = ]-] |fields = ]-]
|workplaces = ]</br>] |workplaces ]]</br>]</br>]</br> ]</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 |signature = ernest_rutherford_sig.jpg
|footnotes = |footnotes =
Line 33: Line 21:
'''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. '''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.


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

Revision as of 16:02, 22 September 2009

Ernest Rutherford
Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson (1871-1937)
Born(1871-08-30)30 August 1871
Brightwater, New Zealand
Died19 October 1937(1937-10-19) (aged 66)
Cambridge, England
NationalityBritish-New Zealander
CitizenshipUnited Kingdom
Scientific career
FieldsPhysicist-Chemist
Signature

Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, OM, FRS (30 August 1871–19 October 1937) was a New Zealand chemist and physicist who became known as the father of nuclear physics. He discovered that atoms have a small charged nucleus, and thereby pioneered the Rutherford model (or planetary model, which later evolved into the Bohr model or orbital model) of the atom, through his discovery of Rutherford scattering with his gold foil experiment. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1908. He is widely credited as splitting the atom in 1917 and leading the first experiment to "split the nucleus" in a controlled manner by two students under his direction, John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton in 1932.

. His first name was mistakenly spelled Earnest when his birth was registered.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). He is interred in Westminster Abbey, alongside J. J. Thomson, and near Sir Isaac Newton.

Legacy

A plaque commemorating Rutherford's presence at the Victoria University, Manchester
Rutherford was known as "the crocodile". Engraving by Eric Gill at the original Cavendish site in Cambridge.

Rutherford's research, along with that of his protégé Sir Mark Oliphant, was instrumental in the convening of the Manhattan Project to develop the first nuclear weapons.

Many items bear Rutherford's name in honour of his life and work:

Scientific discoveries
Institutions
Buildings
Halls of residence
School houses
Major streets
Other
  • The crater Rutherford on the Moon, and the crater Rutherford on Mars
  • The Rutherford Award at Thomas Carr College for excellence in VCE Chemistry, Australia
  • Image on New Zealand $100 note.
  • Rutherford was the subject of a play by Stuart Hoar.
  • On the side of the Mond Laboratory on the site of the original Cavendish Laboratory 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 Peter Kapitza. The initials of the engraver, Eric Gill, are visible within the mouth.
  • The Rutherford Foundation, a charitable trust set up by the Royal Society of New Zealand to support research in science and technology.

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

References

  1. "Ernest Rutherford: British physicist". Encyclopædia Britannica.
  2. Michael Freemantle (2003). "ACS Article on Rutherfordium". Chemical & Engineering News. American Chemical Society. Retrieved 2008-04-02.
  3. "ErnestRutherford Physics Building". Virtual McGill. McGill University. 24 January 2000. Retrieved 2008-04-02.
  4. Tawa College - House system
  5. http://www.royalsociety.org.nz/Site/funding/rutherford/default.aspx

Further reading

External links

Laureates of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
1901–1925
1926–1950
1951–1975
1976–2000
2001–present
Presidents of the Royal Society
17th century
18th century
19th century
20th century
21st century

Template:Persondata

Categories: