Ernest Rutherford , 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson , OM , PC , FRS ( 30 August 1871 â `` 19 October 1937 ) was a New Zealand scientist , who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1908 , for his work on nuclear physics , and for the theory of the structure of the atom . Ernest Rutherford , 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson OM , FRS ( 30 August 1871 â `` 19 October 1937 ) was a New Zealand-born British chemist and physicist who became known as the father of nuclear physics .