Ernest Rutherford

Rutherford, Ernest (1871–1937), New Zealand-born English physicist. He taught at McGill University (Montreal, 1898–1907) and the University of Manchester (1907–19); in 1919 he became director of the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge. In studying uranium he discovered and named alpha and beta radiation. For his theory concerning the radioactive transformation of atoms he was awarded the 1908 Nobel prize in chemistry. In 1911 he proposed his nuclear theory of the atom, on which Bohr based his celebrated theory years later. In 1919 Rutherford announced the first artificial disintegration of an atom. His work was commemorated (1969) by the naming of rutherfordium, a chemical element.

See also: Atom; Physics.