Ernest Rutherford

I have long since ceased to worry about the future. It is sufficient to know that the atom is there.

In early days, when I was a very young man, I was led to believe that the atom was a solid thing, indivisible and indestructible.

The atom, being for our purpose the simplest of things, we shall assume to be a sphere of uniform positive electrification, superposed with a equal number of electrons.

When we consider the radiation of heat from the sun, it is evident that the sun must be continually losing mass.

The scientific man does not aim at an immediate result. He does not expect that his advanced ideas will be readily taken up.

I am not a lover of respectability. I am a lover of truth.

Radioactivity is a manifestation of the subatomic world.

The energy emitted by radium is so great that it seems to be inexhaustible.

We cannot control the motion of atoms, but we can predict their behavior.

Science is not only a disciple of reason but also one of romance and passion.

In science, we must be prepared to abandon our pet theories when facts demand it.

The nucleus is the heart of the atom, small but mighty.

Experiment without theory is blind, but theory without experiment is mere mental production.

I worked hard in my youth, and that's why I succeeded.

The great thing about science is its international character.

Alpha particles are helium nuclei, and that's a discovery worth celebrating.

Don't underestimate the power of simple experiments.

Life is too short for bad science.

The scattering experiments taught us more about the atom than years of speculation.

I owe my success to the support of my colleagues and students.