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Rutherford and the City
Rutherford took on the study of radioactivity after it was first discovered by Baccarell and he's working on the same subjects as people like the curies. Rutherford comes up with the names for the shorthand names called alpha, beta and gamma radiation. Just like x-rays, these are just letters to denote different types of radiation that he doesn't quite understand the nature of and what they're made of. And it only turns out subsequently that only one of these three types, namely the gamma part, is actually electromagnetic radiation. The other two, the alpha and beta types of radioactive emanations are in fact particles of matter.