Ernest Rutherford was a chemist and a physicist that was born on August 30, 1871, in Spring Grove, New Zealand. He was a pioneer of nuclear physics and the first to split an atom. He was awarded a Nobel Prize in chemistry for his theory of the atomic structure. He discovered alpha and beta rays, that the atom could be split, and contributed to the Atomic Theory. He used the gold foil to see how to alpha and beta rays would bounce off off different atoms. Ernest was responsible for a remarkable series of discoveries in the fields of radioactivity and nuclear physics. Alpha and Beta rays set forth the laws of radioactive decay and identified alpha particles (helium nuclei). This would change science forever. Ernest conducted research that
