Science
Ernest Rutherford
Physicist developing a concentrated-charge atomic model
Photograph · Image credit
Who they are
Ernest Rutherford interpreted unexpectedly large alpha-particle deflections as evidence for a concentrated central charge within the atom. His 1911 paper drew on Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden’s experiments and discussed earlier atomic models. It offered a quantitative structural explanation while leaving questions about the center’s sign and the atom’s constitution open.
He belongs to the timeline’s account of experimental evidence reshaping models of matter.
Selected contributions
- Published the 1911 scattering analysis that inferred a concentrated atomic center.Source ↗
Selected works
Academic paper · 1911
The Scattering of α and β Particles by Matter and the Structure of the Atom
Rutherford explains large-angle scattering through an atom with a concentrated central charge, drawing on Geiger and Marsden’s experiments. The 1911 argument did not yet settle every feature of atomic or nuclear structure.
Reading scope & citation
Reuses documented prior inspection: Selected opening and concluding passages read from publisher scan/OCR; complete numerical derivation not 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
Portrait credit
Bain News Service, publisher Restored by: Bammesk. 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) ↗
