Quote#Wisdom
It was almost as incredible as if you fired a 15-inch shell at a…
Quote byErnest Rutherford · 1871–1937
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: From a lecture delivered on October 15, 1936 at Cambridge University, discussing the result of an experiment in 1909 where alpha particles were scattered backwards when fired at a thin sheet of metal foil, which led to the discovery of the atomic nucleus. The full lecture was reprinted in Background.
English (original)
It was almost as incredible as if you fired a 15-inch shell at a piece of tissue paper and it came back and hit you.
— Ernest Rutherford
You may also like
Radioactivity is shown to be accompanied by chemical changes in which new types of matter are being continually produced. … The conclusion is drawn that these chemical changes must be sub-atomic in character.
It is just as surprising as if a gunner fired a shell at a single sheet of paper and for some reason or other the projectile bounded back again.
The scene was changed. It was a bark that slowly held its way, And o'er its lee the coast of France in the light of evening lay; And on its deck a lady sat, who gazed with tearful eyes Upon the fast receding hills that dim and distant rise.
What great Effects from slender Causes flow!
So All is diff’rent, and yet All is One.
But as well may you, when urging a man up-hill with a heavy load upon his back, and with your lash also upon his back, tell him, that be has nothing to do either with the load or the lash.