Ernest Marsden (19.02.1889-15.12.1970) was a New Zealand physicist and a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand (president in 1947). He was born in Rishton (England). He studied at the University of Manchester and in 1911 — 14 worked there under the direction of E. Rutherford. In 1914 he moved to New Zealand, where he was professor at Victoria University of Wellington (until 1922), and in 1926 — 54 he worked at the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research.
His work concerned the study of radioactivity, the scattering of alpha particles, the transmutation of elements and the measurement of the natural radiation of the environment, in particular the radioactivity of terrestrial rocks, soil, plankton and so on. Together with H. Geiger he carried out (1909—10) an experimental study of the passage of alpha particles through thin plates of gold and other metals, establishing that a certain very small part of the alpha particles is scattered through large angles (greater than 90°). The results of these experiments led Rutherford to the creation of the planetary model of the atom.
A Fellow of the Royal Society (1946).