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{{Infobox Scientist {{Infobox Scientist
|box_width = 300px |box_width = 300pxt Rford cropped.jpg
|name = Ernest Rutherford
|image = Ernest Rutherford cropped.jpg
|image_size = 200px |image_size = 200px
|caption = Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson |caption = Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson
|birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1871|8|30}} |bi_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1, New Zealand
|deathe = {{death date and age||1937|10|19|1871|8|30}}
|birth_place = ], New Zealand
|death_place =ty]]</br>] (1908) </br> ] (1910) </br> ] (1913)</br>] (1922)<br>] (1924)
|death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1937|10|19|1871|8|30}}
|death_place = ], England
|residence = New Zealand, UK, Canada
|citizenship = United Kingdom
|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>]</br> ]</br>]
|notable_students = ]</br>] </br>]</br>] </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> ] (1910) </br> ] (1913)</br>] (1922)<br>] (1924)
|signature = ernest_rutherford_sig.jpg |signature = ernest_rutherford_sig.jpg
|footnotes = |footnotes =
}}

'''Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson''', ], ] (30 August 1871–19 October 1937) was a British-New Zealand ] and ] 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> 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. He was awarded the ] in 1908 "for his investigations into the disintegration of the elements, and the chemistry of radioactive substances".<ref>http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1908/</ref>

Rutherford performed his most famous work after he received this prize. In 1911, he postulated that atoms have their positive charge concentrated in a very small ],<ref>
{{cite book
| title = Theoretical concepts in physics: an alternative view of theoretical reasoning in physics
| author = M. S. Longair
| publisher = Cambridge University Press
| year = 2003
| isbn = 9780521528788
| pages = 377–378
| url = http://books.google.com/?id=bA9Lp2GH6OEC&pg=PA377&dq=rutherford+positive+charge+concentrated+nucleus&q=rutherford%20positive%20charge%20concentrated%20nucleus
}}</ref>
and thereby pioneered the ], or planetary, model of the ], through his discovery and interpretation of ] in his ]. He is widely credited with first splitting the atom in 1917, and leading the ] in a controlled manner by two students under his direction, ] and ] in 1932.

==Biography==

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 emigrated 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.

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. Also in 1900 he married Mary Georgina Newton (1876–1945); they had one daughter, Eileen Mary (1901–1930), who married ]. In 1907 Rutherford moved to Britain to take the ] of physics at the ].

===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 | year=2001 | accessdate=2008-04-02}}</ref> He is interred in ], alongside ], and near ].

==Scientific research==
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.
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 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 Manchester he continued to work with alpha radiation, in conjunction with ] he developed zinc sulfide scintillation screens and ionization chambers to count alphas. By dividing the total charge they produced by the number counted, Rutherford decided that the charge on the alpha was two. In late 1907 Rutherford Thomas Royds allowed alphas to penetrate a very thin window into an evacuated tube. As they sparked the tube into discharge, the spectrum obtained from it changed, as the alphas were trapped. Eventually, the clear spectrum of helium gas appeared, proving that alphas were at least ionized helium atoms, and probably helium nuclei.

Along with ] and ] he carried out the ] in 1909, which demonstrated the nuclear nature of atoms. It was his interpretation of this experiment that led him to formulate the ] of the atom in 1911 — that a very small positively ]d ] was ]ed by ]. In Cambridge 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.&nbsp;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.

==Legacy==
], ]]]

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 | year=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>
* 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 ]
; 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)

==Arms==
{{Infobox COA wide
|image = Ernest Rutherford Arms.svg
|bannerimage =
|badgeimage =
|notes = The arms of Ernest Rutherford consist of:<ref>{{cite book|last=Pais|first=Abraham |authorlink=Abraham Pais|coauthors=|title=Line of Succession: Heraldry of the Royal Families of Europe|year=1999|publisher=Oxford University Press|location= Oxford|isbn=0-19-851997-4|page=216}}</ref>
|adopted =
|crest = A baron's coronet. On a helm wreathed of the Colors, a kiwi Proper.
|torse =
|helm =
|escutcheon = Per saltire arched Gules and Or, two inescutcheons voided of the first in fess, within each a martlet Sable.
|supporters = Dexter, Hermes Trismegistus (patron saint of knowledge and alchemists). Sinister, a Maori warrior.
|compartment =
|motto = Primordia Quaerere Rerum ("To seek the first principles of things." Lucretius.)
|orders =
|other_elements =
|banner =
|badge =
|symbolism =
|previous_versions =
}}

==See also==
* ]
* ]

== 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}}
* Reeves, Richard (2008). ''A Force of Nature: The Frontier Genius of Ernest Rutherford''. New York: W. W. Norton. ISBN 0-393-33369-8
* 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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* from ]
* 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)

{{Copley Medallists 1901-1950}}
{{Nobel Prize in Chemistry Laureates 1901-1925}}
{{Royal Society presidents 1900s}}

{{Normdaten|PND=118750488|LCCN=n/50/24959|VIAF=66546175}}

{{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 21:38, 30 August 2010

{{Infobox Scientist |box_width = 300pxt Rford cropped.jpg |image_size = 200px |caption = Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson |bi_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1, New Zealand |deathe = Error: Need valid death date (first date): year, month, day |death_place =ty]]
[[Victoria University of Manchester|University of Manchest5)
Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1908)
Elliott Cresson Medal (1910)
Matteucci Medal (1913)
Copley Medal (1922)
Franklin Medal (1924) |signature = ernest_rutherford_sig.jpg |footnotes =