Ernest Rutherford Essay

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Chemist Project
Lauryn Nielsen
Period 1 Ernest Rutherford was born on August 30th, 1871 in Nelson, New Zealand. He was the fourth child born to James and Martha Rutherford out of twelve children. His father, from Scotland, and his mother, from England, moved to New Zealand in their early teenage years. His parents met in a town called Spring Grove.
Throughout Rutherford’s life, he got a very good education. His mother, being a schoolteacher, and his father, not having received an education, both knew the importance of schooling. Rutherford took an interest in science from a young age. When he was ten years old, he received his first science textbook.
In 1887, when Rutherford was 16, he won a scholarship to Nelson College after applying for the second time. While he was there, he was the head boy and played rugby. Then in 1890, he attended Canterbury College, the University of New Zealand, in Christchurch for 4 years. In 1992, He completed his Bachelor of Arts in Pure Mathematics, Latin, Applied Mathematics, English, French, and Physics. In 1893 after receiving the only Senior Scholarship in Mathematics, he received a Master of Arts degree.
At this point, he had been unsuccessful in getting a job as a teacher three times; Rutherford did not have many career choices left, besides tutoring and looking into medicine. In 1895, Rutherford was awarded the one scholarship awarded every two years that allowed him to travel anywhere in the world to research. So at age 23, Ernest Rutherford departed from New Zealand with three degrees and a reputation of greatness.
Rutherford worked with J. J. Thomson while on his scholarship. While working with Rutherford, Thomson was amazed by Rutherford’s talent and asked him to help him conduct experiments with X-rays on gases. Rutherford discovered and named alpha and beta rays in 1898.
In 1900, Ernest Rutherford went back to New Zealand and married Mary Georgina Newton and had one daughter, Eileen in 1901. But Eileen was to die at age twenty-seven, two days before Christmas.
In 1904, Rutherford was awarded the Rumford Medal, his first major accomplishment. And in 1908, he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, even though he hadn’t even made the discovery that made him famous!
In 1911, while Rutherford was working with Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden, they aimed alpha particles at a piece of gold foil that was very thin. He also conducted this experiment with aluminum,
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