# Do atoms really exist?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-atoms-really-exist/236714>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 27, 2004, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-atoms-really-exist/236714 "2004-03-27T08:26:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 4

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mathochist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@Mathochist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mathochist)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2004, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-atoms-really-exist/236714/61 "2004-03-30T20:45:47Z")

</div>

> [@MonkeyMensch](#):
>
> The alpha particle reference was a nod to Ernest Rutherford, the Kiwi physicist who shot 15" shells at a piece of tissue paper and noticed that some of them bounced back.

Rutherford believed in atoms, his experiment just pointed toward the existance of a nucleus within the atom.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-atoms-really-exist/236714.md?page=3)