Ernest Rutherford studied the structure of atoms in the early 1900s. He initially believed that atoms were like "loosely packed snowballs" with positive charge and mass evenly distributed. However, when he fired alpha particles at gold foil, some particles bounced back, contrary to this model. This led Rutherford to conclude atoms have small, dense, positively charged nuclei. Later, Niels Bohr built on this work by proposing electrons orbit nuclei in set energy levels, addressing a problem with Rutherford's model. Scientific knowledge is built through collaboration and ideas being tested, scrutinized, and built upon over time.