Surveys new laser techniques and a variety of spectroscopic experiments that can be used to detect, measure and study very small numbers of atoms on molecules. The range of applicability of these techniques is also included. (HM)

Discusses 5 innovative experiments conducted by Rutherford in early 1900s utilizing the 30 milligrams of radium salt he personally carried from Europe to Canada in 1903. Traces his work with alpha particles from his original results which determined their nature, charge, and mass, to his technique of backscattering which helped to advance…