Ernest Rutherford Biography

Ernest Rutherford was a well-known physicist, he played important role in the field of nuclear physics and especially in the study of radioactivity. Ernest Rutherford was the first person, who attempted to split the atom. Rutherford also received a Nobel prize in the field of chemistry In 1908, for the development of the theory of atomic structure.  Ernest Rutherford was also known as the “Father of the Nuclear Age”.

Early Life and Education Of Ernest Rutherford 

Ernest Rutherford was born on 30th August 1871, in a rural Spring Grove near the South Island of New Zealand. Father of Rutherford, James had little education knowledge and he struggled a lot to support the large family with a flax miller’s income. Rutherford’s mother, Martha was a school teacher. As per Ernest Rutherford  Biography, his parents have 12 children and he was the fourth child and a second son to his parents. Martha, the mother of Rutherford had a strong belief that knowledge was power. So, she provided education to all her children.

During the childhood days of Ernest, he had spent most of his time with cows to produce milk after completing school, through this, he made a financial contribution to his family. Rutherford family members use to call him “Ern”. During his weekends, he spent time with his brothers swimming in a river. Since Rutherford’s family was facing a severe financial crisis, he always tried to find out inventive ways like birds-nesting to earn funds for his kite-flying supplies to brought up his family. The main motto of Rutherford during his childhood was “We haven’t the money, so we’ve got to think”.

Education Of Rutherford 

While Rutherford was at the age of 10, he handed his first science book in Foxhill school. That was the crucial moment for Rutherford, which inspired him a lot and helped his first scientific experiment. At a young age, Ernest Rutherford designed a miniature cannon, which brought a great surprise to his family members. But it was unexpectedly exploded. Rutherford never lost his interest in science and he continued studying and exploring his new ideas. In 1887, he got a scholarship to attend a private secondary school,  Nelson Collegiate School. Till 1889, he joined them and pursued his schooling and played rugby.

In 1890, Ernest Rutherford got another scholarship to study at Canterbury College in Christchurch, New Zealand. During his college days, his professors from Canterbury college encouraged him a lot and supported all his scientific experiments.  Rutherford completed his both Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees from Canterbury college. He also achieved first-class honours in both math and science. After 1894, he stayed in Canterbury college for conducting his independent research. Then he experimented on how the high-frequency electrical discharge is magnetizing iron. This research helped him to obtain his bachelor’s degree in the Science stream. During the research period, Ernest Rutherford met and fell in love with his landlady’s daughter, Mary Newton. In 1900, they got married and had a girl child. Eileen was the daughter of Ernest Rutherford.

Experiments And Discoveries Of Ernest Rutherford

In 1895, Ernest Rutherford entered the University of Cambridge’s Cavendish Laboratory in London as the first research student. During his research period, he identified a simpler and more commercially feasible means of detecting radio waves. German physicist Heinrich Hertz was also established the same before Rutherford.

Rutherford was invited by Professor J.J. Thomson for Cavendish Laboratory to make a study on X-rays.  Before Rutherford reaching Cavendish Laboratory, the German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovered the X- rays. So, at that time X-rays became a hot topic among research scientists. Even after that, Rutherford and Thomson together started their study on the effects of X- rays on the conductivity of gases. Their research papers explained how atoms and molecules were divided into ions. Thomson continued his study and later it was called an electron. Rutherford also continued his studies on ion-producing radiations.

By using Uranium, Ernest Rutherford Model was developed. Rutherford discovered the atomic model by placing uranium near foil.  While observing the foil he found that one type of radiation can easily be soaked up or blocked. But all the radiation had not faced any trouble to penetrate the same foil. So, rutherford named the radiations “alpha” and “beta”. As per outcomes, the alpha particles were identical to the nucleus of a helium atom and beta particles were identical to the electrons or positrons of the helium atom. 

In 1902,  Ernest Rutherford left Cambridge University and started his career as a professor at McGill University in Montreal. In 1903, while he was at McGill University, Rutherford joined hands with Frederick Soddy and introduced their disintegration theory of radioactivity. In that research, they found that radioactive energy was emitted from within an atom. Also, both the alpha and beta particles were emitted at the same time, which was resulted in the chemical change across elements. Later, Rutherford and Yale Professor Bertram Borden Boltwood together worked on categorizing the radioactive elements, based on their decay series. While Rutherford was at McGill, he got credits for discovering the radioactive gas radon. He also received many honours for his contributions to the understanding of radio elements. 

Ernest Rutherford also became famous fame among the researched and people through his contributions to the discovery of radio elements. Later, Rutherford became an active public speaker. He published numerous magazines, articles and also explained radioactivity in the highly regarded textbooks.

In 1907, Rutherford returned to England and started served as a professor at the University of Manchester. He further experimented on firing the alpha particles at foils. During that time, Rutherford also made some groundbreaking discoveries. In that, he found that the total mass of an atom is completely concentrated in a nucleus.  Through this invention, Ernest Rutherford Atomic Model was initiated. His discovery was marked as a landmark in the field of nuclear physics. Rutherford’s discovery also paved way for the invention of the atom bomb. In 1908, Rutherford received Nobel Prize for Chemistry. He was also called as  “Father of the Nuclear Age”.

As World War I aroused, Rutherford turned his concentration towards research on antisubmarine. In 1919, Ernest Rutherford made another monumental discovery. He found how to induce a nuclear reaction artificially in a stable element. Rutherford mainly concentrated on  Nuclear reactions for the rest of his scientific career.

How Did Ernest Rutherford Die?

Ernest Rutherford received countless honours and awards for his research works. He also received honorary degrees and fellowships from leading organizations. In 1914, the Institution of Electrical Engineers also honoured the contribution of Rutherford. In 1931, he was honoured with the title Baron Rutherford of Nelson. In the same year, Ernest Rutherford was elected as the president of the  Institute of Physics.

On 19th October 1937 at the age of 66 Rutherford was suffered from a hernia and had complications in his blood flow. So, Baron Rutherford died at Cambridge University in England. Scientists and colleagues of rutherford usually call him by his nick name “Crocodile”. They buried Ernest Rutherford at Westminster Abbey.

During World War I, Rutherford said that scientists should not learn how to utilize atomic energy. This will help to maintain the people to live in peace with their neighbour countries. But, the discovery of nuclear fission was made after two years of his death. This also created an impact on society as Rutherford feared. The usage of nuclear-powered weapons spoiled the peace of living beings on earth.

Discoveries of Rutherfords has also become the basis of the European Organization. By utilizing that they constructed the Large Hadron Collider with help of many other Nuclear Researchers. The Large Hadron Collider was one of the largest and highest-energy particle accelerators in the world. It took a decade for completing its development. In May 2010 the Large Hadron Collider started smashing atomic particles. Even today, Rutherford’s research was answering the fundamental question about physics. The scientists, who have a tendency to think forward with Rutherford’s idea were reaching the scientific exploration.