The
Geiger–Marsden experiment(s) (also called the
Rutherford gold foil experiment) were a landmark series of experiments by which scientists discovered that every
atom contains a nucleus where its positive charge and most of its mass are concentrated. They deduced this by measuring how an
alpha particle beam is scattered when it strikes a thin metal foil. The experiments were performed between 1908 and 1913 by
Hans Geiger and
Ernest Marsden under the direction of
Ernest Rutherford at the Physical Laboratories of the
University of Manchester.