Ernest Rutherford Timeline

(1871–1937)

Ernest Rutherford (1871–1937) was a New Zealand-born physicist renowned as the father of nuclear physics. He discovered alpha and beta radiation, formulated the nuclear model of the atom, achieved the first artificial nuclear reaction, and won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1908. More Less

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Early Life and Education

Birth of Ernest Rutherford

Aug 30, 1871

Ernest Rutherford was born in Brightwater, New Zealand, the fourth of twelve children of James Rutherford, an immigrant farmer and mechanic from Perth, Scotland, and Martha Thompson, a schoolteacher from Hornchurch, England. He would become a pioneering researcher in atomic and nuclear physics.

Image source: Ernest Rutherford

Family moves to Havelock

1883

At age 11, Rutherford moved with his family to Havelock, in the Marlborough Sounds, where he attended Havelock School.

Scholarship to Nelson College

1887

In 1887, on his second attempt, Rutherford won a scholarship to study at Nelson College. He studied there between 1887 and 1889 and was head boy in 1889.

Studies at Canterbury College

1890 - 1894

In 1889, after his second attempt, Rutherford won a scholarship to study at Canterbury College, University of New Zealand, where he studied between 1890 and 1894, earning degrees including an M.A. in Mathematics and Physical Science in 1893 and a B.Sc. in Chemistry and Geology in 1894.

1851 Research Fellowship and move to Cambridge

1895

After inventing a new form of radio receiver, Rutherford was awarded an 1851 Research Fellowship from the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 to travel to England for postgraduate study at the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge. In 1897 he was awarded a B.A.

Marriage to Mary Georgina Newton

1900

In 1900, at St Paul's Anglican Church in Papanui, Christchurch, Rutherford married Mary Georgina Newton (1876–1954), to whom he had been engaged before leaving New Zealand. They had one daughter, Eileen Mary (1901–1930), who married physicist Ralph Fowler.

Scientific Career

Radio wave detection experiments

1896

With J.J. Thomson's encouragement, Rutherford detected radio waves at 0.5 miles (800 m), briefly holding the world record for the distance over which electromagnetic waves could be detected. At the British Association meeting in 1896 he found he had been outdone by Guglielmo Marconi, whose waves had sent a message across nearly 10 miles (16 km).

X-ray research contributing to electron discovery

1897

Under Thomson's leadership, Rutherford worked on the conductive effects of X-rays on gases, which led to the discovery of the electron, results first presented by Thomson in 1897.

Image source: Electron

Macdonald Chair of Physics at McGill University

1898

In 1898, Rutherford accepted the Macdonald Chair of Physics at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, on Thomson's recommendation.

Image source: McGill University

Collaboration with Frederick Soddy at McGill

1900 - 1903

From 1900 to 1903, Rutherford was joined at McGill by young chemist Frederick Soddy (Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1921), for whom he set the problem of identifying the noble gas emitted by the radioactive element thorium.

Image source: Frederick Soddy

Langworthy Professorship at Victoria University of Manchester

1907

In 1907, Rutherford returned to Britain to take the Langworthy Professorship at the Victoria University of Manchester.

Image source: University of Manchester

Niels Bohr joins Rutherford's lab

1912

In 1912, Rutherford invited Niels Bohr to join his lab; Bohr postulated that electrons moved in specific orbits about the compact nucleus, leading to the Bohr model of the atom.

Image source: Bohr model

Director of the Cavendish Laboratory

1919 - 1937

Rutherford returned to the Cavendish Laboratory in 1919, becoming Director and succeeding J.J. Thomson as Cavendish Professor of Physics, a position he held until his death in 1937. During his tenure, Nobel prizes were awarded to James Chadwick, John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton, and Edward Appleton.

Image source: Cavendish Laboratory

Cockcroft and Walton split the atom

1932

During Rutherford's tenure at the Cavendish Laboratory, John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton performed an experiment known as "splitting the atom" using a particle accelerator, for which they later received a Nobel prize.

Image source: John Cockcroft

Speech inspiring nuclear chain reaction thinking

Sep 12, 1933

A speech of Rutherford's about his artificially-induced transmutation in lithium, printed in The Times on 12 September 1933, touched on the 1932 work of Cockcroft and Walton splitting lithium into alpha particles. It was reported by Szilárd to have inspired his thinking about the possibility of a controlled energy-producing nuclear chain reaction.

Image source: Leo Szilard

Nuclear Physics Breakthroughs

Coins terms alpha ray and beta ray

1899

Continuing his research in Canada, Rutherford coined the terms "alpha ray" and "beta ray" in 1899 to describe two distinct types of radiation.

Image source: Alpha particle

Identification of gamma radiation

1903

In 1903, Rutherford considered a type of radiation discovered by Paul Villard in 1900 as an emission from radium, realising it must represent something different from his own alpha and beta rays due to its much greater penetrating power.

Image source: Gamma ray

Radioactivity as the Sun's energy source

1904

In 1904, Rutherford suggested that radioactivity provides a source of energy sufficient to explain the existence of the Sun for the many millions of years required for the slow biological evolution on Earth proposed by biologists such as Charles Darwin.

Alpha particle identification with Thomas Royds

1907 - 1909

In late 1907, Ernest Rutherford and Thomas Royds allowed alpha particles to penetrate a very thin window into an evacuated tube, work that helped identify alpha particles as helium nuclei.

Geiger–Marsden experiment

1909

Under Rutherford's direction in 1909, Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden performed the Geiger–Marsden experiment, demonstrating the nuclear nature of atoms by measuring the deflection of alpha particles passing through a thin gold foil.

Image source: Rutherford scattering experiments

Theory of the atomic nucleus

1911

In 1911, Rutherford theorised that atoms have their charge concentrated in a very small nucleus, a revolutionary model of atomic structure.

Image source: Atomic nucleus

Development of the atomic numbering system

1913

With Moseley, Rutherford developed the atomic numbering system in 1913, providing a rational ordering of the chemical elements.

Image source: Atomic number

First artificially induced nuclear reaction

1917

In 1917, Rutherford performed the first artificially induced nuclear reaction by conducting experiments in which nitrogen nuclei were bombarded with alpha particles.

Image source: Nuclear reaction

Research on hydrogen atoms from nitrogen disintegration

1919 - 1920

In 1919–1920, Rutherford continued his research on the "hydrogen atom" to confirm that alpha particles break down nitrogen nuclei and to affirm the nature of the products.

Image source: Proton

Postulation of the proton

1920

Confirming and extending the work of Wilhelm Wien, who had discovered the proton in streams of ionised gas in 1898, Rutherford in 1920 postulated the hydrogen nucleus to be a new particle, which he dubbed the proton.

Theorising the existence of neutrons

1921

In 1921, while working with Niels Bohr, Rutherford theorised about the existence of neutrons (christened in his 1920 Bakerian Lecture), which could compensate for the repelling effect of protons' positive charges by causing an attractive nuclear force, keeping nuclei from flying apart.

Image source: Neutron

Discovery of the neutron confirmed

1932

In 1932, Rutherford's theory of neutrons was proved by his associate James Chadwick, who recognised neutrons immediately when they were produced by other scientists and later himself, in bombarding beryllium with alpha particles. Chadwick was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for this discovery in 1935.

Image source: James Chadwick

Legacy and Honours

Nobel Prize in Chemistry

1908

Rutherford received the Nobel Prize in 1908 and continued to make ground-breaking discoveries long afterwards.

Death of Ernest Rutherford

Oct 19, 1937

Rutherford had an emergency operation in London but died in Cambridge four days later, on 19 October 1937, at age 66, of what physicians termed "intestinal paralysis." After cremation at Golders Green Crematorium, he was buried in Westminster Abbey near Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin.

Element rutherfordium named in his honour

1997

The chemical element rutherfordium (Rf, Z=104) was named in honour of Rutherford in 1997.

Image source: Rutherfordium

Portrait on the New Zealand one hundred-dollar note

1999

Since 1999, Rutherford's portrait has appeared on the New Zealand one hundred-dollar note.

Image source: New Zealand one hundred-dollar note

Named tenth greatest physicist of all time

1999

In 1999, Rutherford was named the tenth greatest physicist of all time.

Blue plaque for Rutherford Lodge

2012

Rutherford's former house is now known as Rutherford Lodge and received a blue plaque in 2012.

Portrayal in Murdoch Mysteries

Jan 13, 2020

Andrew Hodwitz portrayed Rutherford in episode 11 of season 13, "Staring Blindly into the Future" (January 13, 2020), of the Canadian television period detective series Murdoch Mysteries.

Image source: Murdoch Mysteries

Key Facts

Ernest Rutherford was born on August 30, 1871, in Brightwater, New Zealand.
He discovered the concept of radioactive half-life and distinguished between alpha and beta radiation in 1899.
In 1908, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his investigations into the disintegration of elements and radioactivity.
In 1911, his famous gold foil experiment led to the discovery of the atomic nucleus and the nuclear model of the atom.
In 1917, he achieved the first artificially induced nuclear reaction by splitting nitrogen into oxygen and hydrogen using alpha particles.

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