[1871-1937 AD]
Science is a source of great interest for many people. Science teaches us to learn new things. There is a personality whose keen interest from childhood was not just in learning different languages, but mainly in science. He is Ernest Rutherford, an unforgettable name in the world of science. ‘Radio Wave Detector’ – As the inventor of this, he will always be remembered among us. He won the Nobel Prize in 1908 for his outstanding achievements in physics.
Major Contributions :
1. Accurate measurement of the properties of ions.
2. Discovery of the radioactive rays called ‘Alpha’ and ‘Beta’.
‘Father of Artificial Radioactive Reaction’-.
4. The inside of any atom of any element is mostly empty. Only at the very center is a very small space densely packed with positive charge.
Physicist Ernest Rutherford was born on August 30, 1871. His father’s name was James Rutherford. His mother’s name was Martha Thompson. His father, James Rutherford, was a Scot. His mother, on the other hand, was English.
From a young age, Ernest was very attentive to his studies. At the age of only fifteen, he did so well in a scholarship exam that all previous records were broken, He studied at Nelson College. He graduated after three years.
After graduating from Nelson College, he went on to the renowned Canterbury College. He studied there from 1889 to 1894, a period of six years’. In 1893, he obtained his B.A degree and in 1894, his M.A degree. Mathematics and physics were his specialties. He gradually devoted more focus to physics. In his final year at college, he invented a detector for identifying radio waves. Marconi’s achievements in sending waves wirelessly are recorded in the history of science. Yet, in that same year, Ernest Rutherford invented this ‘Radio Wave Detector’.
Thanks to his reputation from this work, he had no difficulty winning a scholarship to do research at Cambridge. Working with the famous scientist J.J. Thomson was a great opportunity for him. Though Thomson was not yet recognized as the ‘discoverer of the electron’ at that time. Rutherford was Thomson’s first student. Thomson advised his student to do extensive lab work to create ions from gases using X-rays and to observe the properties of those ions.
Ernest Rutherford was thrilled by the lab instruments and equipment. Electrometer, X-ray tube, parallel plate capacitor, various small devices for generating electricity. He devoted himself to the laboratory. He was able to measure the characteristics of ions. Scientist Thomson expressed his opinion, that Rutherford’s contribution in measuring the properties of ions was greater than his own.
Henri Becquerel’s discovery of radioactivity astonished the world. That was in 1896. Working in this field, Rutherford observed, that the radioactive rays from uranium could ionize gases. He asked himself, what then is the nature of these radioactive rays? He became engrossed in researching this question. He found by analysis, that there were at least two types of rays in radioactivity. One kind had strong ionizing power but was easily absorbed. Another had less ionizing power but was not easily absorbed. He named these two rays ‘Alpha’ and ‘Beta’. Ernest Rutherford completed this work in 1898.
That year he was invited by McGill University in Montreal. At only twenty-seven, he obtained a full professorship at this university. The Physics Department included the Macdonald Physics Building. The abundance of equipment there gave it a worldwide reputation. Tobacco merchant Sir William Macdonald heavily funded the laboratory. As a result, scientists there never faced any difficulty obtaining whatever equipment they needed. Rutherford also became deeply engrossed in research there. He worked there for nine years’. He worked with scientists such as Frederick Soddy, Otto Hahn.
The year was 1899. Scientist Rutherford published a research paper with a sensational title. It was ‘The Newer Alchemy’. Once, the alchemists had tried and failed to make gold from everything. But in that paper, Rutherford stated, ‘The radioactive rays emitted from thorium oxide turn anything they touch radioactive.’ It meant that, as soon as such a radioactive ray emerged, one element was being transformed into another. For the new element formed, if its ‘half-life’ was longer, it might seem, the new element was more radioactive than the previous one.
Uranium, thorium, all these elements emit radioactive particles. Passing through many elements, they eventually turn into lead. He worked with scientist Frederick Soddy. They explained what radioactivity was, but did not initially state that an element turns into another—this came later, as they admitted. Soddy’s life was also rather unusual. From demonstrator to Oxford professor.
It was Rutherford who discovered that the alpha particle is the nucleus of a helium atom. And he became so fascinated with this work that later, instead of calling the ‘alpha’ particle, he would say ‘my particle’ —as if it were his personal treasure. The year 1908 was extremely important in his life. That was when he received the Nobel Prize. He delivered a speech at the Nobel Assembly. The title was ‘The Chemical Nature of the Alpha Particles from Radioactive Substances’.
The following year he left Montreal for Manchester. He wrote to his mother, ‘Being three thousand miles away, I can’t publish my research findings in time. Many others are working on the same subject. If I don’t publish first, it all goes to waste.’ In his nine years in Manchester, he published seventy research papers.
In 1911, scientist Ernest Rutherford made a revolutionary and bold statement, ‘The inside of any atom of any element is mostly empty. Only at the center is a very small area with a lot of positive charge packed in.’ This was not just his own opinion. With this, the idea of the structure of the atom was established. At the very center is the positively charged nucleus. Electrons revolve around it in orbits.
Cavendish Professor J.J. Thomson retired. That was in 1919. Everyone agreed, the most qualified person for the position was Ernest Rutherford. Thus, his long-standing frustration disappeared. No one would ever disregard him again for not being a Cambridge student. His dedication and hard work had paid off. Scientist Ernest Rutherford was the father of artificial radioactive reaction, or ‘Artificial Radioactive Reaction’-.
Ernest Rutherford achieved extraordinary fame as a scientist. This renowned scientist died in 1937. He was buried at the world-famous resting place of scientists, Westminster Abbey, beside Darwin, Kelvin and his mentor J.J. Thomson.
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