Why is Ernest Rutherford prominent among other Nobel recipients?

       

 

             A chemist and physicist, Ernest Rutherford was the central figure in the study of radioactivity who led the exploration of nuclear physics. Ernest Rutherford was born on 30th August 1871, in New Zealand. He is considered be the greatest experimentalist since Michael Faraday.

               After studying at the Cavendish Laboratory, Rutherford became a professor at McGill University in Canada. Being the first to split the atom, Rutherford was awarded the 1908 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his theory of atomic structure. Working with Frederick Soddy, Rutherford advanced the hypothesis that helium gas could be formed from radioactive substances.

               He discovered that radioactive preparations gave rise to the formation of gases. Rutherford had an enormous influence in the field of nuclear physics and mentored scientists, including Chadwick, Niels Bohr, and Otto Hahn. He died on October 19th, 1937.

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