Ernst Rutherford (1871 – 1937)

 British physicist who did pioneering work on radioactive radiation. He discovered alpha-rays and beta-rays. Along with Federick Soddy, he created the modern theory of radioactivity. He studied the ‘emanation’ of thorium and discovered a new noble gas, an isotope of radon, now known as thoron. By scattering alpha-rays from the metal foils, he discovered the atomic nucleus and proposed the plenatery model of the atom. He also estimated the approximate size of the nucleus.