Ernest Rutherford
1871-1937
Ernest Rutherford was a New Zealand chemist 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. |