Rutherford's father, James Rutherford, emigrated from Scotland to New Zealand as a child in the mid-19th century and bred in that agricultural community, which had recently been inhabited by Europeans. Rutherford's mother, Martha Thompson, was a native of England, and for a time she worked as a teacher before she married and raised twelve children, Ernest being the fourth child and second son. Ernest Rutherford attended free state schools in 1886 and won a scholarship to Nelson Collegiate School, a private high school. He excelled in almost every subject, but especially in math and science.
Another scholarship took Rutherford in 1890 to Canterbury College in Christchurch, one of the four campuses at the University of New Zealand. It was a small school, with eight students and less than 300 students. Rutherford was fortunate to have a distinguished professor, who aroused in him an interest in scientific research that fits the need for solid evidence.
At the end of a three-year school course, Rutherford received a bachelor of arts degree (B.A.) and earned a year-long postgraduate scholarship in Canterbury. He completed this in late 1893, earning a Master of Arts (M.A.) degree with first-class honors in physical science, mathematics, and mathematical physics. He was encouraged to stay another year in Christchurch to do independent research. Rutherford's study of the most common electrical discharge potential, such as that of a capacitor, to magnetize iron earned him a bachelor of science degree (B.S.) in late 1894. During this time he fell in love with Mary Newton, the daughter of a woman who lived in his house. They were married in 1900.
In 1895 Rutherford won a scholarship created for profit from the famous 1851 Great Exhibition in London. He chose to continue his studies at the Cavendish Laboratory of the University of Cambridge, J.J. Thomson, Europe's leading specialist in electronics, had taken over the reins in 1884.
University of Cambridge
Recognizing the growing importance of science, the University of Cambridge recently changed its rules to allow graduates of other institutions to graduate from Cambridge after two years of studying and completing an accredited research project. Rutherford became the first research student in a school. Without suggesting that the oscillatory release may be iron magnetize, which was already known, Rutherford determined that the magnetic needle had lost its magnetic field in the magnetic field produced by alternating current. This turned the needle into an electric detector, something that had recently been discovered. In 1864 the Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell predicted the existence of such waves, and between 1885 and 1889 the German physicist Heinrich Hertz discovered them in his laboratory. Rutherford's equipment for obtaining electric waves, or radio waves, was simple and powerful. He spent the following year in the Cavendish Laboratory developing the width and sensitivity of his device, which could receive signals from a half mile. However, Rutherford did not have the intercontinental vision and business acumen of Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi, who invented the telegraph in 1896.
X-rays were obtained in Germany by scientist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen a few months after Rutherford's arrival in Cavendish. With their ability to capture silhouette images of living bones, X-rays fascinated scientists and humans alike. In particular, scientists were eager to study their properties and what they were. Rutherford could not deny the honor of Thomson's invitation to participate in an investigation into how X-rays change the flow of gas. This produced the old ionization paper — the separation of atoms or molecules into positive and negative particles (ions) —and the attraction of charged particles to electrodes of different polarity.
Thomson then studied the charge-to-mass ratio of the most common ions, later called electrons, while Rutherford followed other ions that produced ions. Rutherford began by looking at ultraviolet radiation and then emitting radiation by uranium. (Uranium radiation was first discovered in 1896 by French physicist Henri Becquerel.) The placement of uranium next to tiny particles reveals to Rutherford that radiation was much more complex than previously thought: one type was easily absorbed or blocked by a very small plate, but another it was solid. the genre usually encompasses the same small files. He named these types of radiation alpha and beta, respectively, for simplicity. (It was later discovered that the alpha particle is similar to the normal helium atom nucleus — consisting of protons and beta and beta resembles an electron or its direct version, the positron. radioactive elements, or radioelements, emitted rays, which attracted much scientific attention.
McGill University
Rutherford's research ability earned him a professor at McGill University, Montreal, who prided himself on being one of the most well-equipped laboratories in the Western Hemisphere. Turning his attention to some of the few things then known as radioactive, he and his colleagues discovered that thorium produces a gaseous radioactive substance, which he calls “emanation.” This also leaves a strong effective deposit, which is quickly solved into thorium A, B, C, and so on. Interestingly, after chemotherapy, some radioelements lost their radioactivity but eventually regained it, while other substances, which had been strong at first, gradually lost their function. This led to the idea of a biological component — in modern terms, the time interval required in the atomic part of the radioactive nuclei.
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