<Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (May 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (May 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> The Rutherford model is a model of the atom devised by Ernest Rutherford . Rutherford directed the famous Geiger--Marsden experiment in 1909 which suggested, upon Rutherford's 1911 analysis, that J.J. Thomson's plum pudding model of the atom was incorrect . Rutherford's new model for the atom, based on the experimental results, contained the new features of a relatively high central charge concentrated into a very small volume in comparison to the rest of the atom and with this central volume also containing the bulk of the atomic mass of the atom . This region would be known as the "nucleus" of the atom . </P> <P> Rutherford overturned Thomson's model in 1911 with his well - known gold foil experiment in which he demonstrated that the atom has a tiny and heavy nucleus . Rutherford designed an experiment to use the alpha particles emitted by a radioactive element as probes to the unseen world of atomic structure . If Thomson was correct, the beam would go straight through the gold foil . Most of the beams went through the foil, but a few were reflected . </P>

Who is credited with the first idea of a nuclear atom