ABSTRACT
Ernest Rutherford was born at Spring Grove, a locality near Nelson on New Zealand’s South Island, in a family of Scottish origin. In 1911 he postulated a model of the atom in which finally the correct distribution of negative and positive charges was given. In 1911, by studying the diffusion of alpha particles though a solid target he proposed the planetary interpretation of the atom. The concept of an atom, as a complex system containing in its interior both negative charges and positive charges was evolving, in the years between the 19th and 20th centuries. The electrons which turn around the nucleus in the Rutherford model should therefore emit light waves and because these waves transport energy they should constantly lose kinetic energy as a consequence of their emission. Rutherford, to whom Niels Bohr sent the first manuscript for publication, presented it to the important English journal Philosophical Magazine.
