Ernest Rutherford (30.08.1871-19.10.1937) — an English physicist, the founder of nuclear physics, a Fellow of the Royal Society (1903) and its president in 1925-30. He was born in Spring Grove (now Brightwater) in New Zealand. He graduated from Canterbury College of the University of New Zealand in Christchurch (1894). In 1895-98 he worked at the Cavendish Laboratory under J. J. Thomson, in 1898-1907 he was professor at McGill University in Quebec (Canada), and in 1907—19 — professor at the University of Manchester and director of the physics laboratory. From 1919 — professor at the University of Cambridge and director of the Cavendish Laboratory. His research was on radioactivity and atomic and nuclear physics. By his fundamental discoveries in these fields he laid the foundations of the modern teaching on radioactivity and of the theory of the structure of the atom. In 1899 he discovered alpha and beta rays, in 1900 — the emanation of thorium, and he introduced the concept of the half-life. Together with F. Soddy in 1902 — 03 he developed the theory of radioactive decay and established the law of radioactive transformations. In 1903 he proved that alpha rays consist of positively charged particles. He predicted the existence of transuranic elements. In 1903 E. Rutherford wrote: “If there are elements heavier than uranium, it is quite probable that they will turn out to be radioactive. The exceptional sensitivity of the methods of chemical analysis based on radioactivity makes it possible to detect these elements even if they are present in negligibly small amounts. It can therefore be expected that in the future the number of radioactive elements will increase, and that in insignificant amounts there exist considerably more than the three radioactive elements known at present”. For his research on the transformation of the elements and the chemistry of radioactive substances Rutherford was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1908. In 1908, together with H. Geiger, he constructed an instrument for registering individual charged particles (the Geiger counter) and with its help finally proved (1909) that alpha particles are doubly ionised atoms of helium. Studying the passage of alpha particles through matter, he detected their scattering in 1906. He established (1911) the law of scattering of alpha particles by the atoms of various elements (the Rutherford formula), which led him in 1911 to the discovery of the nucleus in the atom, a dense formation about 10-12 cm in diameter, positively charged, and to the creation of a new model of the atom — the planetary one (the Rutherford model of the atom). He put forward the idea of the artificial transformation of atomic nuclei (1914) and predicted internal conversion. Together with E. Andrade in 1914 he proved the identity of the X-ray spectra of isotopes, thereby finally confirming the equality of the atomic numbers of the isotopes of a given element, and observed the diffraction of gamma rays by a crystal, proving their electromagnetic nature. In 1919 he carried out the first artificial nuclear reaction, turning nitrogen into oxygen, thereby laying the foundations of modern nuclear physics, and discovered the proton. In 1920 he predicted the existence of the neutron and the deuteron. With M. Oliphant he proved experimentally (1933) the validity of the law of the relation between mass and energy in nuclear reactions, and in 1934 he carried out the reaction of fusion of deuterons with the formation of tritium. He created a large school of physicists (H. Geiger, E. Marsden, J. Nuttall, O. Hahn, H. Moseley, J. Chadwick, E. Andrade, C. G. Darwin, N. Bohr, G. Hevesy and others, 1907—19, Manchester; P. Blackett, C. Ellis, P. L. Kapitza, J. Cockcroft, E. Walton, C. Powell, M. Oliphant, W. Wooster, N. Feather, H. Massey, H. Bhabha, P. Dee, T. Allibon, T. Shimizu and others, 1919 — 37, Cambridge). The Soviet physicists P. L. Kapitza, Yu. B. Khariton, A. I. Leipunsky, K. D. Sinelnikov and others studied under Rutherford. A member of all the academies of sciences of the world, including a foreign member of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1925).