Cool videos of me! :)

Check this one out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuxD7Pt4sMY

This one too!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7IvCDjM7Vg&feature=related

Sing to my atomic theory! :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8wPtTFaiEQ&feature=related

Sincèrement,
Ernest Rutherford

My Legacy

It is year 1936 and I can feel that I am near the end of my life. However, it is such a blessing that I created a nuclear physics legacy. All the work that I have done, I believe, has been my purpose in life and my research will indeed benefit the scientific community. To summarize all my contributions in scientific research;I have established the real,nuclear structure of the atom and confirmed all other controversial explanations of the atom as invalid."The subject was scientifically interesting because it gave insight into the atoms." Democritus, the Greek philosopher, proposed the atom as indivisible. However, with my gold foil experiment and Geiger-Marsden experiment, I was able to support the idea that the atom is in fact, divisible. The atom is composed of three different particles:the neutron, electron, and proton-the proton and the neutron are particles in the nucleus. How remarkable is this discovery! All these I have confirmed and I have officially challenged all other confrontations to the existence of atoms. In addition I laid the foundation to radioactive decay. During my investigation of radioactivity, I established new scientific vocabulary. Alpha, beta, and gamma were the words. Yes, I did it all with the help of my assistants. All my achievements were recognized and praised. I am remembered and honored by the element Rutherfordium and praised by the statue of me in Brightwater, New Zealand. I must be off now, researching with the time that I have left....
Adieu,

This is the element named after me, Rutherfordium. I can not express my joy in words for such an endowment. I greatly appreciate how people admire my scientific work....
:)

I've done it!

I have done it! I transmuted one element into another through nuclear reaction. I could not have done this without Niels Bohr, my assistant who received a Nobel Prize in Physics. What a brilliant man! With his help, I was able to theorize that an attraction occurred between particles of different charges. The attractive force between the protons and neutrons kept the nuclei from breaking apart! I have solved it! Oh, people will live to see this day! I have unlocked the secrets to life itself! My theory was proven by another special assistant of mine, James Chadwick. A splendid man indeed! My other scientific research on radioactivity of thorium and uranium was also very rewarding. With my young helper, Frederick Soddy, I was able to discover the transmutation of elements. Who knew that radioactivity was an abrasion of the atom? Who knew that half-life was the time required for half of the atoms to decay? No one would have possible demonstrated this without my work. I have no intention to boast of my intelligence, but it is simply the truth. Although I have to give credit to Paul Villard for discovering-but not naming-the type of radiation from radium. I,in the end, did research and experimentation in a much greater depth and in addition, I gave the type of radiation its name-the gamma ray. In continuation, as chair of Physics in the University of Manchester, I worked with alpha radiations and have concluded that an alpha particle's charge is two. With this discovery, I carried out an experiment with Thomas Royds who took the alpha particles and saturated them through a thin window. How unpredictable the results were! Royds and I obtained a spectrum of helium gas! Is not life unpredictable? One may never know what to expect. Likewise, my gold foil experiment produced capricious results. I assumed that the paths of alpha particles could not have possibly been altered by a nearby encounter with an electron. Little did I expect that the alpha particles were deflected at large angles, some right at me! I have proven that the atom is divisible, contrary to Democritus and Dalton's theories. I shall now continue with even greater scientific research....
Cordialement,
Ernest Rutherford


Sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Rutherford
Chemistry: Matter and Change(textbook)
Dingrando, Laurel, Kathleen Tallman, Nicholas Hainen, and Cheryl Wistrom. Chemistry:Matter and Change. California. Columbus: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 2007. 94-95.

A change in subject! :)

I am back and fully recovered! In fact, I am more lively that ever! During this period, new mass leisure activities developed! New professional sporting events were made for mass audiences,including the introduction of the World Cup competition in 1930. How splendid that at the same time, the Germans had their Olympics, New Zealanders had inaugurated regular first-class matches of cricket! The 1906-1907 season featured the New Zealand State Championships and we often played against our rivals, the Australians. Wow, it really is surprising to see an expansion in mass culture and leisure. With the new cultural and intellectual achievements, there also came a degree of uncertainty. New visions in art and music manifested. Some of them I rather detest! It is true that four years of devastating war left many in a sense of despair. This caused an arise in criticism of Western values. Oswald Spengler, a German writer, emphasized the collapse of the Western civilization. Can you believe this! Although I agree that the first World War left a degree of uncertainty, the idea of the collapse of the Western civilization is absurd. I can understand the the first World War left many civilians with despair and heartache, human beings should not be looked at as irrational animals. I believe humans to be more than capable and I,myself, emphasize on that part.. I also believe humans can live up to their potential and that there is no need to think of both the Western civilization and the human race as a degradation. Anyway, back to more scientific research....
Cordialement,
Ernest Rutherford

Sources
Spielvogel, Jackson. Western Civilization. 6th ed. Canada: Wadsworth, 2006. 776-779.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Rutherford

The Great Depression :(

Hello my fellow friends! I am back and this time, I have a commentary on what my environment and period is like currently. I must warn you that it gets worse when I reach near the end of my post. Most certainly, the nineteenth century is associated with the "heroic age of physics". I have been praised incessantly for manifesting this "heroic age of physics" and I have to say that I am quite flattered. Ranging from the Rutherford model to the discovery of the atom with its subatomic particles, I laid the foundations for further scientific investigations. However, as I make these discoveries, I am constantly struggling with my outside "forces." I am amidst the Great Depression! Oh, it's indescribable! The horror, the pain, the struggle to survive-I simply can not take it! The economic depression just devastated us all! encouraged by high export prices, many new Zealand farmers invested heavily during this period. How devastated I was to see the looks on their faces when they were bore to the brunt of the depression. Although I am grateful that New Zealand's depression was not as threatening and burdensome as in many other industrial nations, I could not help but be melancholy for the certain people in other nations that are experiencing something far worse. Unemployment has risen and I am hesitant for my future. Oh dear, just think of what could happen! I can not express all the griefs I have currently, and I definitely need time to recover. When I do, I will update my posts. Wish me recovery!
Bien à Vous,
Ernest Rutherford

http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/Singleton.NZ
Spielvogel, Jackson. Western Civilization. 6th ed. Canada: Wadsworth, 2006. 776-779.

My Life

Hi! My name is Ernest Rutherford-the father of nuclear physics. I can not tell you how passionate I am about physics-particularly chemistry! My early work involved the concept of radioactivity-the transmutation of both alpha and beta radiation. I was so happy to receive a Nobel Prize in chemistry from my research! However, my most prominent work was done in the United Kingdom; I discovered that atoms have a positive charge centered in the nucleus, hence, the Rutherford model. So splendid it is to have a model named by a prominent chemist such as myself! Before I continue, I must tell you a little background of who I am, where I am from, and how I got to where I am now. I, Ernest Rutherford, am the son of James Rutherford, and son of mother, Martha Thompson. I emigrated from Scotland to New Zealand and was raised at Brightwater, New Zealand. It is quite depressing how my first name was misspelled at the birth register. It printed "Earnest" instead of "Ernest", although I do believe myself to be earnest and sincere with my scientific work. As for my education, I studied at Havelok School and soon won a scholarship to attend a college where I firmly gained my reputation as a leader-I was president of the debating society! During my first year at Canterbury College, I took many subjects that I found quite interesting:Latin, French, Mathematics, etc. However, my experience at Canterbury College is also the mark of the beginning of a new rivalry. I constantly competed with Willie Marris in the field of mathematics and although I was surpassed by my nemesis, Marris soon acknowledged me as the greater and better mathematician. I could not but accept his most naive compliment. I certainly agree on that part. From graduating from Canterbury College, I received a bachelor degree of arts and soon after, my master's degree and bachelor of science degree. After two years of intense research on the field of electrical technology, I traveled to England to pursue a record, not yet known before. At the University of Cambridge, I set the record for detecting electromagnetic waves! From that experience, I felt even more accomplished as a New Zealand-born chemist and physicist. For my accomplishments, I was appointed to succeed in the chair of MacDonald Professor of Physics at McGill University. For my most brilliant performance and work, I received the greatest prize of all-the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. How happy I was to receive this award and from that point on, I committed myself to penetrate and unlock the deep secrets of our natural world. As chair of Physics at the University of Manchester, I created a legacy that would be revealed both in the scientific community and around the world-the element named after me, rutherfordium in the periodic table of elements. I can assure you that I lived my life with much honor and dignity. I am sorry, this is all I can write with the time that I have, but I promise that I will continue with my other posts promptly.
Les meilleurs,
Ernest Rutherford



http://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/content/images/2008/09/10/ernest_rutherford_203x152.jpg
http://www.rutherfordjournal.org/article010112.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Rutherford