Ernest Rutherford: A Short Biography The Father of Nuclear Physics

By Doug West

In the movies we often see a scientist portrayed as a quiet and pious man or woman dressed in a white lab coat engrossed in deep thought. This image surely fits some; however, not the twentieth-century New Zealander Ernest Rutherford, or Lord Rutherford as he would be known later in life. He was born into a large family living in the frontier country of New Zealand with the nearest town thirteen miles away by horseback. This young man would earn a scholarship and travel to Great Britain to study at the world-famous Cambridge University. There this boisterous country boy would come into his own in the hallowed halls of Cambridge and study under one of Europe’s most prominent scientists, J.J. Thomson. Over his long and fruitful career as a physicist, he would create the science we call today nuclear physics, thus shattering the concept of the atom that had held sway since the time of the ancient Greek philosophers. In his time, Rutherford was considered the greatest experimental physicist in the British Empire. No other experimentalist had been such a pivotal figure in science since Michael Faraday, the discoverer of electromagnetic induction.

“Ernest Rutherford: A Short Biography” reveals the life and times of one of the greatest scientific minds of the twentieth-century.

30-Minute Book Series
This is the 34th book in the 30-Minute Book Series. Books in this series are fast-paced, accurate, and cover the story in as much detail as a short book possibly can. Most people complete each book in less than an hour, which makes the books in the series a perfect companion for your lunch hour or a little down time.

About the Author
Doug West is a retired engineer and an experienced non-fiction writer with several books to his credit. His writing interests are general, with special expertise in history, science, biographies, and “How To” topics. Doug has a Ph.D. in General Engineering from Oklahoma State University.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Doug West
• Release date: Dec 16, 2018
• ISBN: 9780463319451

Doug West

Doug West is a retired engineer, small business owner, and an experienced non-fiction writer with several books to his credit. His writing interests are general, with expertise in science, history, biographies, numismatics, and “How to” topics. Doug has a B.S. in Physics from the Missouri School of Science and Technology and a Ph.D. in General Engineering from Oklahoma State University. He lives with his wife and little dog “Millie” near Kansas City, Missouri.

Book preview

Ernest Rutherford: A Short Biography

The Father of Nuclear Physics

By Doug West, Ph.D.

Ernest Rutherford: A Short Biography

The Father of Nuclear Physics

Copyright © 2018 Doug West

All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the author. Reviewers may quote brief passages in reviews.

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For my grandson Aiden

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1 – Growing Up in New Zealand

Chapter 2 - Cambridge University

Chapter 3 - McGill University in Canada

Chapter 4 - The Victoria University of Manchester

Chapter 5 - The Rutherford Model of the Atom

Chapter 6 – World War I

Chapter 7 - The Cavendish Laboratory

Chapter 8 – Splitting the Atom

Timeline

Biographical Sketches

References and Further Reading

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Additional Books by Doug West

Preface

Welcome to the book, Ernest Rutherford: A Short Biography. This book is volume 34 of the 30 Minute Book Series and, as the name of the series implies, if you are an average reader this book will take around 30 minutes to read. Since this short book is not meant to be an all-encompassing biography of Ernest Rutherford, you may want to know more about this man and his accomplishments. To help you with this, there are several good references at the end of this book. I have also provided a Timeline, in order to link together the important events in Rutherford’s life, and a section titled Biographical Sketches which includes biographies of some of the key individuals in the book.

Thank you for purchasing this book, and I hope you enjoy your time reading about this legendary twentieth-century scientist.

Doug West

December 2018

Introduction

In the movies we see the scientist portrayed as a quiet and pious man or woman dressed in a white lab coat engrossed in thought. This image surely fits some; however, not the twentieth-century New Zealander Ernest Rutherford, or Lord Rutherford as he would be known later in life. He was born into a large family living in the frontier country of New Zealand with the nearest town thirteen miles away by horseback. This young man would earn a scholarship and travel to England to study at the world-famous Cambridge University. There this boisterous country boy would come into his own in the hallowed halls of Cambridge. Over his long and illustrious career as a physicist,