One hundred years ago, Ernest Rutherford decided to shoot some stuff at atoms and toppled then-current atomic theory. Physicist and blogger Rhett Allain walks through the rise of six atomic models.

No discovery struck deeper into the scientific understanding of reality, with more profound implications for civilization, than Rutherford’s revelation of the architecture of the atom. A century ...

Acceptance of this model grew after it was modified with quantum theory by Niels Bohr. For his work with radiation and the atomic nucleus, Rutherford received the 1908 Nobel Prize in chemistry.

It is a story of how ideas changed about the nature of the atom. These are the notes (and diagrams) I use when I teach the atomic nature of matter to non-science majors. The best thing about this ...

Photo: Niels Bohr's research notes for his new atomic theory Rutherford's find came from a very strange experience. Everyone at that time imagined the atom as a "plum pudding." That is, it was ...

ATOM OF MATTER CAN BE DETECTED; Prof. Rutherford, Expert on Radio-Activity, Makes Successful Experiments. SUBSTANCES TRANSFORMED Accomplished by Expulsion of an "Alpha Particle," Which Prof ...