This scientist led a series of experiments that used high-speed lightweight atoms called alpha particles to bombard very thin pieces of gold foil. some of the alpha particles went straight through the foil but a few alpha particles bounced back. the scientist used this information to hypothesize that an atom must be made of a tiny dense nucleus surrounded by a region of mostly empty space. which scientist did this? a. j. j. thomson b. john dalton c. ernest rutherford d. neils bohr