ABSTRACT

Ernest Rutherford is known almost universally as the discoverer of the structure of the atom. He is less well known for his discovery of the proton. Even less well known is a set of hypotheses on the structure of matter that was proposed by Newton 300 years ago. Here Newton’s hypotheses and Rutherford’s observations are described and compared with today’s Standard Model of particle physics, as well as with a NZ precursor to the Standard Model. A proposal to construct an electron–proton collider at CERN to examine the proton with resolution 1000 times finer than that achieved in the Rutherford era is also described. Three experiments that were conducted in New Zealand with connections to Rutherford’s experiments are also described. It is concluded that New Zealand’s small size and isolation can offer advantages for fundamental research.

摘要

欧内斯特·卢瑟福几乎以原子结构的发现者而闻名。他因发现质子而鲜为人知。更鲜为人知的是牛顿在 300 年前提出的一组关于物质结构的假设。此处描述了牛顿的假设和卢瑟福的观察结果，并将其与当今的粒子物理学标准模型以及标准模型的 NZ 前身进行了比较。还描述了在欧洲核子研究中心建造电子-质子对撞机的提议，以检测比卢瑟福时代分辨率高 1000 倍的质子。还描述了在新西兰进行的三个与卢瑟福实验有关的实验。结论是，新西兰的小规模和孤立可以为基础研究提供优势。