ABSTRACT

Ernest Rutherford carried out his post-graduate research in the Cavendish Laboratory as one of the first generation of graduate students from outside Cambridge to study for a higher degree by research. His first experiments in radioactivity were carried out in the period 1896–1898. He returned to Cambridge as Cavendish Professor in 1919, following a remarkable period of discovery in nuclear physics at McGill University in Canada and at Manchester University. He was appointed Cavendish Professor in succession to J.J. Thomson and Director of the Cavendish Laboratory during these 'golden years' of nuclear physics until his sudden death in 1937. His achievements and those of his numerous colleagues, students and collaborators during these tumultuous years are described, much of their work under Rutherford's personal direction. These included the transmutation of nuclei by α-particle impact with Chadwick, the discovery of the neutron by Chadwick and the splitting of the atom by Cockcroft and Walton. At the same time, others were sowing the seeds for the remarkable expansion of physics research in the post-War era.

摘要

欧内斯特·卢瑟福 (Ernest Rutherford) 在卡文迪什实验室 (Cavendish Laboratory) 进行了研究生研究，是剑桥以外第一代通过研究攻读更高学位的研究生之一。他的第一个放射性实验是在 1896 年至 1898 年期间进行的。1919 年，在加拿大麦吉尔大学和曼彻斯特大学在核物理学方面取得了非凡的发现后，他于 1919 年以卡文迪什教授的身份回到剑桥大学。在核物理学的“黄金年代”，他被任命为继 JJ Thomson 之后的卡文迪许教授和卡文迪许实验室主任，直到他于 1937 年突然去世。他和他的众多同事、学生和合作者在这些动荡的岁月中取得的成就被描述，他们的大部分工作都是在卢瑟福的个人指导下进行的。α粒子与查德威克的碰撞、查德威克发现中子以及科克罗夫特和沃尔顿对原子的分裂。与此同时，其他人正在为战后物理学研究的显着扩张播下种子。