سوال ۲۱ کنکور ارشد فیزیک ۱۴۰۲

PART C: Reading Comprehension — PASSAGE 3

Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937) was a New Zealand-born British physicist and recipient of the 1908 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He is often called the “father of nuclear physics.” After studying with J. J. Thomson at the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge University, Rutherford became a professor and chair of the Physics Department at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

In Montreal, there were <u>ample</u> opportunities for research, and his work on radioactive bodies, particularly on the emission of alpha rays, was continued in the Macdonald Laboratory. With R.B. Owens, he studied the “emanation” of thorium and discovered a new noble gas, an isotope of radon, which was later to be known as thoron. Frederick Soddy arrived at McGill in 1900 from Oxford, and he collaborated with Rutherford in creating the “disintegration theory” of radioactivity which regards radioactive phenomena as atomic—not molecular—processes. The theory was supported by a large amount of experimental evidence.

In 1907, Rutherford returned to Great Britain to teach at the University of Manchester. Two years later, he, Hans Geiger, and Ernest Marsden conducted the Geiger-Marsden experiment, where they observed alpha particles scattering backwards when fired at a gold foil. The surprising results of this experiment led Rutherford to formulate his model of the atomic nucleus, a revolutionary development in nuclear physics.

In 1919, he became Cavendish Professor of Physics at Cambridge. Rutherford also coined the term “proton” and theorized about the existence of neutrons, which were discovered by his colleague and former student James Chadwick in 1932. Rutherford had an enormous influence on the field of nuclear physics and mentored many future Nobel Prize winners and prominent scientists, including Chadwick, Niels Bohr, and Otto Hahn. He died on October 19, 1937.

21- According to the passage, which of the following statements is true about Rutherford?