Dipole polarizability, one of the fundamental properties of a nucleus, studied in elastic scattering experiments has been reviewed here. For strongly bound nuclei the effect of dipole polarizability is usually negligible. However, for weakly bound nuclei, where the dipole strength extends to low excitation energies, it does play a major role. This effect has already been examined in the scattering of the lightest weakly-bound stable nuclei, viz., d, 3 He, and 7 Li. In the present work we have studied it for the weakly bound unstable borromean nucleus, 6 He, using the elastic scattering data available at energies around the Coulomb barrier with a 208 Pb target.

In May 1911 Ernest Rutherford published a paper The Scattering of α-and β-particles by Matter and the Structure of the Atom. Now it is usually considered to be the birth certificate of the atomic nucleus. Rutherford's results are presented and discussed in a wider context of physics views of that time.