These terms devised by Rutherford soon took acceptance and came into common use by the scientific community as the convenient nomenclature, which remains today, for identifying these three types of radiation.Īfter 3 years at the Cavendish laboratory, Rutherford moved in 1898 to McGill University in Montreal at the age of 27 to take on the position of professor of physics. “… was led to the conclusion that two types of radiation of very different penetrating power were present – one that is very readily absorbed, which will be termed for convenience the α-radiation, and the other of a more penetrative character, which will be termed the β-radiation, … and when a still more penetrating type of radiation from radium was discovered by Villard, the term γ-rays was applied to them.

From this experiment he made his first discovery concerning radioactivity, stating at his Nobel address: Because Becquerel showed that the radiations from uranium could, as well as X-rays, discharge an electrified body (ie, cause ionization), he decided to examine the effect of placing successive layers of aluminum foil over uranium oxide on the efficiency of the emanations to cause the electrical discharge. Rutherford was captivated with the recent discoveries of X-rays by Röntgen and the subsequent discovery by Becquerel of the mysterious natural radiations from uranium. At Cambridge, Rutherford stood out as a great experimenter and thinker, who could make major discoveries concerning radioactivity and atomic structure without expensive equipment and only limited resources. Thomson, who would later in life also win the Nobel Prize in Physics. At Canterbury Rutherford won another scholarship as a research student at the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge under J.J. Alexander Bickerton at Canterbury, who displayed such an enthusiasm for science, it gave him the stimulus to pursue scientific research on his own. Although Rutherford worked hard and had an inquisitive mind, he credited his teacher, Prof. He won a scholarship to Nelson College, where he learned elementary science and mathematics and excelled to win another scholarship to continue his education at Canterbury College, which is now the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. Ernest excelled in science and mathematics, and could only achieve a higher education through financial aid with scholarships. Rutherford grew up as a farm boy in New Zealand, raised by parents who had emigrated from Britain with modest means but who had instilled in their children the power of knowledge and the importance of completing all their schoolwork to the best of their abilities.

Rutherford experiment conclusion