may 31, 1911 - Rutherford discovers that the electrons 'orbit' the 'nucleus'

Description:

Rutherford conducts the, now famous, experiments in which he shoots alpha particles into a gold foil at its thinnest layer. The result was that most of the particles got though yet some bounced back. This meant that the atoms were a kind of mesh with huge gaps. Rutherford discovered the nucleus and he concluded that the electrons surrounded it far off (in relation to the size of the electron and nucleus), like a moon or satellite.