Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 (under the category Early Influence). Inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1982. Inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame in 2008.
Alpha particle. Alpha particles consist of two protons and two neutrons bound together into a particle identical to a helium nucleus. They are generally produced in the process of alpha decay, but may also be produced in other ways.
Rutherford exposed very thin films of gold foil to radioactive isotopes that emitted alpha particles. Alpha particles are helium nuclei with two protons and two neutrons. (Rutherford didn't know that, but he knew alpha particles were heavy.) He set up detectors to detect alpha particles. He detected some alpha particles that had passed right through the gold foil. He also detected alpha particles that had rebounded right back at him. The passage of alpha particles through the gold foil proved that gold atoms were mostly empty space. The alpha particles that came back at him proved that a very dense nucleus in the center was bouncing them back. As Rutherford himseklf put it,