Ernest Rutherford

Ernest Rutherford (1871–1937) was a New Zealand-born British physicist widely regarded as the father of nuclear physics. He is best known for discovering alpha and beta radiation, proposing the nuclear model of the atom, and achieving the first artificial transmutation of an element by splitting the nitrogen atom. He was awarded the 1908 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his investigations into the disintegration of elements and the chemistry of radioactive substances. He held professorships at McGill University, the University of Manchester, and the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge.