Talk:Ernest Rutherford

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Help with this template Comments: edit – history – watch – refresh Far too short on all accounts: personal life, scientific merit. The only explanation of the gold foil experiment is its mention and the sentence "he discover the nuclear nature of atoms". This article requires a lot of work, and has been rated start, but is bordering on stub. Errabee 10:20, 29 September 2006 (UTC) Part of the reason why the so-called Rutherford experiment is not mentioned as prominently as it could be is that, from Geiger-Marsden experiment, it was "an experiment done by Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden in 1909, under the direction of Ernest Rutherford". Carcharoth 17:38, 2 November 2006 (UTC) The Rutherford model of the atom is only mentioned as a "See also". This, along with the experiment, should also be expanded. I suggest adding sections that summarise what already exists at these articles, but focussing on what Rutherford did. Carcharoth 17:31, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

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Ernest Rutherford is included in the 2006 Wikipedia CD Selection, or is a candidate for inclusion in the next version. Please maintain high quality standards and, if possible, stick to GFDL-compatible images.

Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, PC, OM, FRS (August 30, 1871 – October 19, 1937), was a New Zealand nuclear physicist. He was known as the "father" of nuclear physics, pioneered the orbital theory of the atom, notably in his discovery of rutherford scattering off the nucleus with the gold foil experiment.

Rutherford was born at Spring Grove, (now in Brightwater), near Nelson. He studied at Nelson College and won a scholarship to study at Canterbury College, University of New Zealand, with three degrees and two years of research at the forefront of electrical technology.

In 1895 Rutherford travelled to England for postgraduate study at the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge (1895-1898), and was resident at Trinity College. There he briefly held the world record for the distance over which wireless waves were detected. During the investigation of radioactivity he coined the terms alpha, beta, and gamma rays.

Lord Rutherford of Nelson on the New Zealand 100 dollar noteIn 1898 Rutherford was appointed to the chair of physics at McGill University where he did the work which gained him the 1908 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He had demonstrated that radioactivity was the spontaneous disintegration of atoms. He noticed that in a sample of radioactive material it invariably took the same amount of time for half the sample to decay — its "half-life" — and created a practical application for this phenomenon using this constant rate of decay as a clock, which could then be used to help determine the actual age of the Earth that turned out to be much older than most scientists at the time believed.

Rutherford's coat of arms, which incorporates Hermes Trismegistus (left) and elements from his native New Zealand, a kiwi bird (top) and a Maori warrior (right). The Latin motto Primordia Quaerere Rerum means "To seek the first principles of things", taken from On the Nature of Things by Lucretius.In 1907 he took the chair of physics at the University of Manchester. There he discovered the nuclear nature of atoms and was the world's first successful "alchemist": he converted nitrogen into oxygen. While working with Niels Bohr (who figured out that electrons moved in specific orbits) Rutherford theorized about the existence of neutrons, which could somehow compensate for the repulsive effect of the positive charges of protons by causing an attractive nuclear force and thus keeping the nuclei from breaking apart.

In 1917 he returned to the Cavendish as Director. Under him, Nobel Prizes were awarded to Chadwick for discovering the neutron (in 1932), Cockcroft and Walton for splitting the atom using a particle accelerator and Appleton for demonstrating the existence of the ionosphere.

His research, along with that of his protege, Sir Mark Oliphant was instrumental in the convening of the Manhattan Project.

He was knighted in 1914, was admitted to the Order of Merit in 1925 and in 1931 was created Baron Rutherford of Nelson of Cambridge in the County of Cambridge, a title which became extinct upon his death. He appears on New Zealand's $100 note and has appeared on postage stamps of the Soviet Union (1971), Canada (1971), Sweden (1968) and New Zealand (1971 and 1999). In 1997 the element rutherfordium was named in his honour. Also craters on Mars and the Moon are named after him. An asteroid was named for his birth place.

He is famously quoted as saying: "In science there is only physics; all the rest is stamp collecting."

Contents 1 Peerage in page title 2 Question..Ernest Rutherford 3 dead link 4 Expansion? 5 P.C.? 6 Middle years section: Nitrogen conversion.... 7 Cultural depictions of Ernest Rutherford

[edit] Peerage in page title

Most of the links to this page are to Ernest Rutherford and he only held the title for the last six years of his life. Is he ever really called "Lord Rutherford" or would the page be better placed at Ernest Rutherford (look, for instance, at his contemporary John Maynard Keynes). Timrollpickering 17:34, 25 February 2006 (UTC)

I would concur that the non-peerage title would be best. john k 19:55, 25 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Question..Ernest Rutherford

ErBold text

What obstacle did Ernest Rutherford have to overcome before his discovery of the proton was accepted?

[edit] dead link

• www.orcbs.msu.edu

J. D. Redding

[edit] Expansion?

This page really needs some expansion .... someone put a tage in for it or a note somewhere ... I'll try to add to it ... rutherford deserves more than this page ... J. D. Redding

I agree. Maybe more on the impact of his model? WStellar 19:37, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] P.C.?

Gentlemen, was Lord Rutherford appointed a member of the New Zealand Executive Council? His name was not upon any of the Historical lists of Privy Counsellors.--Anglius 03:31, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

Rutherford would never have been a member of the NZ Executive Council. Membership of the Council does not entitle on to be a member of the Privy Council (and hence use the honorific the "Right Honourable") but is an honour granted by the Queen on the recommendation of the NZ Government. As the current Government has abolished appeals to the Privy Council from New Zealand in favour of its own Supreme Court, no new members have been added to the Privy Council from NZ since 1999. Dr John Campbell, author of Rutherford Scientist Supreme is regarded as the authority on Rutherford and I see no reference to Ernest being known as "Rt Hon" to this on his website www.rutherford.org.nz I would recommend it be deleted.

[edit] Middle years section: Nitrogen conversion....

He didnt only convert nitrogen into oxygen but also to hydrogen

[edit] Cultural depictions of Ernest Rutherford

I've started an approach that may apply to Wikipedia's Core Biography articles: creating a branching list page based on in popular culture information. I started that last year while I raised Joan of Arc to featured article when I created Cultural depictions of Joan of Arc, which has become a featured list. Recently I also created Cultural depictions of Alexander the Great out of material that had been deleted from the biography article. Since cultural references sometimes get deleted without discussion, I'd like to suggest this approach as a model for the editors here. Regards, Durova 15:52, 18 October 2006 (UTC)