Who they are
Ernest Marsden worked with Hans Geiger at Manchester on the scattering of alpha particles. Their 1909 paper reported particles returning toward the incident side of metal targets. These measurements supplied crucial experimental material for Rutherford’s later concentrated-charge atomic model, while Marsden’s authorship belongs to the experimental paper.
He shows the experimental work behind the timeline’s 1911 atomic-model milestone.
Selected contributions
- Coauthored the 1909 report of diffuse backward scattering of alpha particles.Source ↗
Selected works
Academic paper · 1909
On a Diffuse Reflection of the α-Particles
Geiger and Marsden report that a small fraction of alpha particles can return toward the incident side of a metal target. Their comparisons of materials and thickness supplied experimental evidence later used in Rutherford’s atomic model.
Reading scope & citation
Fresh inspection: Four-page transcription read for byline, measurement method, backward scattering, material/thickness comparisons and acknowledgment of Rutherford. Raw counts and transcription against original facsimile not independently checked.
In the timeline
Biography sources & portrait credit
- The Scattering of α and β Particles by Matter and the Structure of the Atom ↗Philosophical Magazine 21, 669–688; publisher PDF hosted by University of Tübingen
- On a Diffuse Reflection of the α-Particles ↗Proceedings of the Royal Society A; transcription hosted by INFN Bologna
Portrait credit
S P Andrew Ltd.. Public domain (Commons file-specific copyright declaration). Via Wikimedia Commons.
Photograph. Cropped to 4:5, resized to 320 × 400 and converted to WebP.
Image source & identification ↗ · Public domain (Commons file-specific copyright declaration) ↗
