Rutherford, Ernest (1871-1937) 1st Baron Rutherford of NelsonNew Zealand-born British physicist who first explained that radioactivity is produced by the disintegration of atoms and discovered that alpha particles consist of helium nuclei. For these achievements, Rutherford was awarded the 1908 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. Rutherford went on to make two more discoveries of fundamental importance to nuclear physics: he was the first to determine the basic structure of the atom and show that it consists of a central nucleus surrounded by electrons, and he also produced the first artificial transformation, thereby changing one element into another.
Rutherford was born near Nelson on South Island on 30 August 1871. His father was a wheelwright and farmer who, like his mother, had emigrated from the UK to New Zealand when a child. Rutherford did not show any great aptitude for science as a child and when he entered Nelson College in 1887, he exhibited an all-round ability. He went on to Canterbury College, Christchurch, in 1889, receiving a BA degree in 1892. He then embarked on a study of mathematics and physics, gaining his MA in 1893 and then a BSc in 1894. Rutherford investigated the magnetic properties of iron by high-frequency electric discharges for his science degree, and constructed a very sensitive detector of radio waves as a result of his research. This was only six years after Heinrich Hertz had discovered radio waves, and the same year that Guglielmo Marconi began his radio experiments.
In 1895, Rutherford went to the UK to study at the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge. There he became the first research student to work under J J Thomson. Armed with his radio detector, Rutherford made a big impact on Cambridge, but under Thomson's guidance, he soon turned to the work in atomic physics that was to become his career. In 1898, helped by Thomson, Rutherford obtained his first academic position with a professorship in physics at McGill University, Montréal, Canada, which then boasted the best-equipped laboratory in the world. He was attracted back to the UK in 1907, when he succeeded Arthur Schuster (1851-1934) at Manchester, Schuster declaring that he would resign his chair only for Rutherford. Rutherford built up a renowned laboratory at Manchester, and it was there that he made his momentous discoveries of the nuclear atom and artificial transformation.
During World War I, Rutherford worked for the Admiralty on methods of locating submarines and then in 1919 moved to Cambridge to become professor of physics and director of the Cavendish Laboratory in succession to Thomson. He retained this position for the rest of his life, and was also professor of natural philosophy at the Royal Institution from 1921. Many honours were accorded to Rutherford in addition to the 1908 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. They included the Royal Society's Copley Medal in 1922, the presidency of the Royal Society 1925-30, a knighthood in 1914, the Order of Merit in 1925, and a peerage in 1921, Rutherford taking the title Baron Rutherford of Nelson. In his last years, Rutherford was active in helping refugee scientists who had escaped from Nazi Germany. Rutherford died in Cambridge on 19 October 1937 and is buried in Westminster Abbey, London...