Ernest Rutherford

atoms · radioactivity · nuclear physics · scientists

Father of Nuclear Physics. Ernest Rutherford discovered so much about how atoms work that people call him the father of nuclear physics. He figured out that atoms have a tiny nucleus at their center, which was a huge breakthrough in science.

Nobel Prize Winner. In 1908, Rutherford won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work studying how radioactive elements break down and change into other elements. This was one of the biggest honors a scientist could get.

From New Zealand. Rutherford came from New Zealand and became one of the greatest experimentalists in the world. Scientists say he was as skilled at doing experiments as the famous scientist Michael Faraday was.

Brilliant Experimenter. Rutherford was amazing at designing clever experiments to answer big questions about atoms. He used his experiments to prove his ideas about what atoms are made of and how they behave.