Probing subatomic structure

pp. 125-160

in: Brigitte Falkenburg, Particle metaphysics, Berlin, Springer, 2007

Abstract

For a century, subatomic structure was investigated by means of scattering experiments. The first scattering experiments of subatomic physics were performed in Rutherford's laboratory around 1910. In order to explain the unexpected backward scattering of α-rays at a thin gold foil, Rutherford postulated the atomic nucleus as a pointlike scattering center inside the atom. Later scattering experiments demonstrated that the atomic nucleus is not really pointlike. Like the atom, the nucleus shows internal structure in scattering experiments of sufficiently high energy. Now the effects of protons and neutrons were measured. Much later, Rutherford's backward scattering story recurred and the quark constituents of the nucleon came into play.