in artificially disintegrating nitrogen into hydrogen and oxygen by alpha particle bombardment. Rutherford then spent several years directing the development of proton accelerators (atom smashers).
Knighted in 1914, Rutherford was raised to the peerage as the first Baron Rutherford of Nelson in 1931–a barony that ceased to exist after his death. He died at Cambridge on October 19, 1937, and was buried at Westminster Abbey, in London.
