Ernest Rutherford is called the Newton of atomic physics. He was
recognized by his fellow scientists as a man of colossal energy and
tireless enthusiasm. As he himself remarked he lived in the "heroic age
of physics”. Ernest Rutherford was born in New Zealand. He graduated
from New Zealand University and entered Trinity College, Cambridge. In
1919 he was appointed a Professor of experimental physics in the
University of Cambridge. E. Rutherford’s early researches concerned
electromagnetic waves. His experiments led him to develop a magnetic
detector, which at that time was the best detector of electromagnetic
waves. His detector was later used by Marconi, one of the inventors of
the radio, in his well-known investigations. Rutherford’s big triumph
began when he turned his attention to radioactivity. His brilliant
researches established the existence and nature of radioactive
transformations. He also investigated the electrical structure of matter
and the nuclear nature of atom. He was one of the founders of the
atomic theory of physics and creators of the first atomic model. He
stated that the atom consisted of a nucleus around which electrons
revolved in orbits. Even today his works did not lose their importance.
