Rutherford's "Gold Foil Experiment" was conducted back in 1911 by Lord Rutherford and his coworkers Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden. The experiment involved hitting thin sheets of gold foil with fast moving alpha particles. Rutherford and his coworkers found that the vast majority of the alpha particles passed through the gold while a few particles were deflected. Rutherford hypothesized that the reason why most alpha particles passed through was due to empty space while the particles that were deflected were due to a force within an atom. This experiment lead to the nuclear model which hypothesizes that the atom has a nucleus that is composed of protons and neutrons.

Rutherford's early experiments laid the basic principles behind Ion Beam analysis (IBA). Ion Beam analysis involves the use of high-energy, light ion beams and can be used to determine specific characteristics of a sample, including composition and structure. Ion Beam analysis continues to be used today, including at GNS Science and other IBA labs around the world to modify and analyze materials.