Atom of Ernest Rutherford, bombarded a metal foil with alpha particles to observe how they scattered. They expected all the alpha particles to pass straight through with little deflection, because Thomson's model said that the charges in the atom are so diffuse that their electric fields could not affect the alpha particles much. However, Geiger and Marsden spotted alpha particles being deflected by angles greater than 90°, which was supposed to be impossible according to Thomson's model. To explain this, Rutherford proposed that the positive charge of the atom is concentrated in a tiny nucleus at the center of the atom.
Empire of the Atom bodily" from the plot of "I, Claudius". A genealogy chart of the ruling family of the Empire of Linn is included. Van Vogt based "Empire of the Atom" largely on the plot of "I, Claudius" by Robert Graves, putting it into a science-fictional setting. The work was originally presented as five novelettes published in "Astounding Science Fiction" between May 1946 and December 1947. Some time, a little over 10,000 years from now, a noblewoman gives birth to a deformed child, a consequence of having been accidentally exposed to radiation from one of the temples of the Atom Gods. The baby