Take a group of runners circling a track at unique, constant paces. Answering the question of how many will always end up running alone, no matter their speed, has vexed mathematicians for decades.

A part of Rutherford’s scattering experiments, this particular experiment involved shooting alpha particles at a piece of gold foil with the source, foil, and detector placed in a vacuum vessel.

No discovery struck deeper into the scientific understanding of reality, with more profound implications for civilization, than Rutherford’s revelation of the architecture of the atom. A century ago ...