Editing Ernest Rutherford (section)

=== Induced nuclear reaction and probing the nucleus ===
In Rutherford's four-part article on the "Collision of α-particles with light atoms" he reported two additional fundamental and far reaching discoveries.<ref name=PaisInwardBound/>{{rp|237}} First, he showed that at high angles the scattering of alpha particles from hydrogen differed from the theoretical results he himself published in 1911. These were the first results to probe the interactions that hold a nucleus together. Second, he showed that α-particles colliding with nitrogen nuclei would react rather than simply bounce off. One product of the reaction was the proton; the other product was shown by [[Patrick Blackett]], Rutherford's colleague and former student, to be oxygen:
:<sup>14</sup>N + α → <sup>17</sup>O + p. 
Rutherford therefore recognised "that the nucleus may increase rather than diminish in mass as the result of collisions in which the proton is expelled".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rutherford |first1=Sir Ernest |title=Studies of Atomic Nuclei |url=https://archive.org/details/RoyalInstitutionLibraryOfScience-PhysicalScienceVol9 |date=27 March 1925 |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |volume=62 |issue=1601 |pages=73–76 |publisher=The Royal Institution Library of Sciences |doi=10.1126/science.62.1601.209 |pmid=17748045 |bibcode=1925Sci....62..209R |access-date=2 October 2023}}</ref>
Blackett was awarded the Nobel prize in 1948 for his work in perfecting the high-speed cloud chamber apparatus used to make that discovery and many others.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Nobel Prize for Physics : Prof. P. M. S. Blackett, F.R.S |journal=Nature |volume=162 |issue=4126 |year=1948 |pages=841 |doi=10.1038/162841b0|bibcode=1948Natur.162R.841. |doi-access=free }}</ref>