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Rutherford, Ernest
1871-1937
Rutherford's work constituted a landmark in the history of atomic research as he developed Bacquerel's (and Marie Curie's) discovery of Radioactivity into an exact and documented proof that the atoms of the heavier elements, which had been thought to be immutable, actually disintegrate into various forms of radiation. He introduced much of the language to describe nuclear physics. Particles named and characterized by him include the alpha particle, beta particle and proton.
He also discovered the half-life of radioactive elements and
applied this to studies of age determination of rocks by measuring the decay period of radium to lead-206.
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1816-1892
He was a founder and director of Siemens and Halske, a firm that made electrical apparatus. He was co-inventor of an electroplating process, and developed an electric dynamo. He laid the first telegraph line and built the first electric railway in Germany and, with his brother Sir William Siemens, developed a widely used process of steel-making. Siemens was known as an industrialist who established telegraph factories in London, St.Petersburg, Vienna, and Paris, and laid cables across the Mediterranean Sea.
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Railway transportation was born in 1825 when Stephenson's 'Locomotion' ran from Darlington to Stockton, carrying 450 persons at 15 miles per hour (24km/h). Stephenson's later 'Rocket' won a famous competition to find the fastest locomotive by travelling at an average speed of 36 miles per hour (58km/h) from Liverpool to Manchester in 1830.
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