aug 30, 1871 - Ernest Rutherford

Description:

When did they live?
Ernest Rutherford was born on August 30, 1871.

Where did they live?
He was the fourth child and second son in a family of seven sons and five daughters. His father James Rutherford, a Scottish wheelwright, immigrated to New Zealand with Ernest’s grandfather and the whole family in 1842.

What new information did they contribute to the understanding of the atom?
He stated that practically the whole mass of the atom and at the same time all positive charge of the atom is concentrated in a minute space at the centre.

How did they find this new information?
In 1910, his investigations into the scattering of alpha rays and the nature of the inner structure of the atom which caused such scattering led to the postulation of his concept of the “nucleus”, his greatest contribution to physics.

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