Ernest Rutherford

Ernest Rutherford is the dad of atomic science and atomic material science. He found and named the nuclear core, the proton, the alpha molecule, the beta molecule, and he anticipated the presence of the neutron.

He discovered the concept of nuclear half-lives and achieved the first deliberate transformation of one element into another, fulfilling one of the ancient passions of the alchemists.

Rutherford was the central figure in the study of radioactivity, and with his concept of the nuclear atom he led the exploration of nuclear physics. He won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1908, was leader of the Royal Society (1925–30) and the British Association for the Advancement of Science (1923), was presented the Order of Merit in 1925, and was raised to the peerage as Lord Rutherford of Nelson in 1931.