Ernest Rutherford, one of history's most incredible physicists with a Chemistry Nobel to his name, ... This defied the existing atomic model, which assumed atoms were uniformly spread out.

Acceptance of this model grew after it was modified with quantum theory by Niels Bohr. For his work with radiation and the atomic nucleus, Rutherford received the 1908 Nobel Prize in chemistry.

Rutherford made a series of discoveries about the nature of atoms and, working with colleagues Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden, presented a planetary model of the atom in 1911.

The most widely-accepted atomic model was Thomson's so-called "plum pudding". Its ingredients consisted of a ball of diffuse "positive electricity" in which negatively charged electrons were ...

Here, an illustration of Rutherford's particle scattering device used in his gold foil experiment. (Image credit: BSIP/UIG Via Getty Images) Marsden and Geiger conducted the experiments primarily ...

They are, however, frequently used in research — alpha particles were crucial in Ernest Rutherford's discovery of the atomic nucleus, which was the foundation of his atomic model.

Ernest Rutherford said one day "hey, I think I will shoot some stuff at atoms." I am sure his wife said "oh, ... Rutherford's experiment prompted a change in the atomic model.

Rutherford made a series of discoveries about the nature of atoms and, working with colleagues Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden, presented a planetary model of the atom in 1911. In it, he laid out ...