The discovery of the atomic nucleus, or perhaps better stated the development of theory of the nucleus, is credited to Ernest Ru
therford in 1911. He was a kiwi physicist who worked in the laboratory of JJ. Tomson, who developed the earlier Plum Pudding model of the atom. A few years earlier, in 1904, Japanese physicist Hantaro Nagaoka postulated the saturnian model of the atom where he envisioned a very heavy positively charged center of the atom with electrons orbiting much like the rings of Saturn. What are the similarities and differences between the Nagaoka and Rutherford models of the atom? If he developed his theory about 7 years earlier than Rutherford, why is Nagaoka not credited with the discovery of the nucleus? Hint: what's a nucleus anyways
Both of the studies said that the mass of the atom is centered in the nucleus, which is positive, and there are electrons (negative particles) orbiting it. So, Rutheford and Nagaoka discovered that the atom can be divisible and it has an empty space.
But, in the model of Nagaoka, the nucleus was huge, and for Rutherford, the nucleus was really small, and the mass was concentrated. By his experiment with the gold sheets, the theory was appropriated. That's why Rutherford is credited with the discovery of the nucleus. Nagaoka was incorrect in his suppositions.
