Rutherford, Radioactivity and the Origins of Nuclear Physics

When Ernest Rutherford became Professor of Physics at Manchester University in 1907, he brought with him the research field in which he had played a leading role over the previous few years: radioactivity. Rutherford turned the Manchester physics lab over to studies of radioactivity and radiation, and through his own work and that of his many collaborators and students, established Manchester as a major international centre in atomic physics. It was out of this powerhouse that the nuclear theory of the atom emerged in 1911.

In 1917, Rutherford 'disintegrated' the nitrogen nucleus using α-particles, opening up the possibility of nuclear structure. At Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory from 1919, Rutherford and his co-workers began to explore the constitution of the nucleus. With Chadwick, Aston and others, Rutherford turned his research school to the emergent field of nuclear physics – a field he dominated (though not without controversy) until his death in 1937.

Exploring the intellectual, material and institutional cultures of early twentieth century physics, this paper will outline the background to Rutherford's career and work, the experimental and theoretical origins of nuclear theory of the atom and the early development of nuclear physics.