1911 His second discovery, the nuclear model of the atom, became the basis for how we see the atom today: a tiny nucleus surrounded by orbiting electrons. He built on this for his third discovery, the splitting of the atom. It was called the Rutherford-Model. In 1909, his team of scientists was shooting alpha-particles on a gold foil. In the analysis of 1911, Rutherford showed, that the model of J. J. Thomson was incorrect, because the atom has a central charge.