J. J.

Thomson
Sir Joseph John Thomson (18 December 1856 – 30
Sir
August 1940) was an English physicist who received
the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1906 for his discovery of J. J. Thomson
OM FRS
the electron, the first subatomic particle to be found.

In 1897, Thomson showed that cathode rays were

composed of previously unknown negatively charged
particles (now called electrons), which he calculated
must have bodies much smaller than atoms and a very
large charge-to-mass ratio.[1] Thomson is also credited
with finding the first evidence for isotopes of a stable
(non-radioactive) element in 1913, as part of his
exploration into the composition of canal rays (positive
ions). His experiments to determine the nature of
positively charged particles, with Francis William
Aston, were the first use of mass spectrometry and led
to the development of the mass spectrograph.[1][2]

Thomson was awarded the 1906 Nobel Prize in

Physics for his work on the conduction of electricity in
gases.[3] Thomson was also a teacher, and seven of his
Thomson in 1915
students went on to win Nobel Prizes: Ernest
Rutherford (Chemistry 1908), Lawrence Bragg 30th Master of Trinity College, Cambridge
(Physics 1915), Charles Barkla (Physics 1917), Francis In office
Aston (Chemistry 1922), Charles Thomson Rees 1918–1940
Wilson (Physics 1927), Owen Richardson (Physics Preceded by Henry Montagu Butler
1928) and Edward Victor Appleton (Physics 1947).[4] Succeeded by George Macaulay
Only Arnold Sommerfeld's record of mentorship offers Trevelyan
a comparable list of high-achieving students.
42nd President of the Royal Society
In office
Education and personal life 1915–1920
Preceded by William Crookes
Joseph John Thomson was born on 18 December 1856 Succeeded by Charles Scott Sherrington
in Cheetham Hill, Manchester, Lancashire, England.
Personal details
His mother, Emma Swindells, came from a local textile
family. His father, Joseph James Thomson, ran an Born Joseph John Thomson
antiquarian bookshop founded by Thomson's great- 18 December 1856
grandfather. He had a brother, Frederick Vernon Cheetham Hill, Manchester,
England
Thomson, who was two years younger than he was.[5] Died 30 August 1940 (aged 83)
J. J. Thomson was a reserved yet devout Cambridge, England
Anglican.[6][7][8] Alma mater Owens College
Trinity College, Cambridge
His early education was in small private schools where
(BA)
he demonstrated outstanding talent and interest in
science. In 1870, he was admitted to Owens College in Known for Discovering the electron
Manchester (now University of Manchester) at the Thomson problem
unusually young age of 14 and came under the Thomson scattering
influence of Balfour Stewart, Professor of Physics, Gibbs–Thomson equation
who initiated Thomson into physical research.[9]
Electromagnetic mass
Thomson began experimenting with contact
Mass spectrometry
electrification and soon published his first scientific
paper.[10] His parents planned to enroll him as an Mass-to-charge ratio
apprentice engineer to Sharp, Stewart & Co, a Plum pudding model
locomotive manufacturer, but these plans were cut Stable isotopes
short when his father died in 1873.[5] Waveguide

He moved on to Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1876. Thomson (unit)

In 1880, he obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in Coining the term delta ray
mathematics (Second Wrangler in the Tripos[11] and Spouse Rose Elisabeth Paget
2nd Smith's Prize).[12] He applied for and became a ​
​(m. 1890)​
fellow of Trinity College in 1881.[13] He received his Children 2, including George
Master of Arts degree (with Adams Prize) in 1883.[12]
Relatives George Edward Paget
(father-in-law)

Family Awards Smith's Prize (1880)

Royal Medal (1894)
In 1890, Thomson married Rose Elisabeth Paget at the Hughes Medal (1902)
church of St. Mary the Less. Rose, who was the
Nobel Prize in Physics
daughter of Sir George Edward Paget, a physician and
(1906)
then Regius Professor of Physic at Cambridge, was
Elliott Cresson Medal
interested in physics. Beginning in 1882, women could
(1910)
attend demonstrations and lectures at the University of
Cambridge. Rose attended demonstrations and Copley Medal (1914)
lectures, among them Thomson's, leading to their Albert Medal (1915)
relationship.[14] Franklin Medal (1922)
Faraday Medal (1925)
They had two children: George Paget Thomson, who
was also awarded a Nobel Prize for his work on the Dalton Medal (1931)
wave properties of the electron, and Joan Paget Scientific career
Fields Physics
Institutions University of Cambridge
Cavendish Laboratory
Academic Lord Rayleigh
advisors Edward John Routh
Thomson (later Charnock),[15] who became an author, Notable See list
writing children's books, non-fiction and students H. Stanley Allen
biographies. [16]
Francis William Aston
Charles Glover Barkla

Career and research Niels Bohr

Max Born
Debendra Mohan Bose
Overview Lawrence Bragg
On 22 December 1884, Thomson was appointed William Henry Bragg
Cavendish Professor of Physics at the University of Harriet Brooks
Cambridge.[1] The appointment caused considerable Daniel Frost Comstock
surprise, given that candidates such as Osborne
T. H. Laby
Reynolds or Richard Glazebrook were older and more
Elizabeth Laird
experienced in laboratory work. Thomson was known
for his work as a mathematician, where he was Paul Langevin
recognised as an exceptional talent.[17] J. Robert Oppenheimer
Owen Willans Richardson
He was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1906, "in recognition
Ernest Rutherford
of the great merits of his theoretical and experimental
investigations on the conduction of electricity by Geoffrey Ingram Taylor
gases." He was knighted in 1908 and appointed to the George Paget Thomson
Order of Merit in 1912. In 1914, he gave the Romanes John Sealy Townsend
Lecture in Oxford on "The atomic theory". In 1918, he Balthasar van der Pol
became Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, where
Charles T. R. Wilson
he remained until his death. He died on 30 August
John Zeleny
1940; his ashes rest in Westminster Abbey,[18] near the
graves of Sir Isaac Newton and his former student 3rd Cavendish Professor of Physics
Ernest Rutherford.[19]
In office
1884–1919
Rutherford succeeded him as Cavendish Professor of
Physics. Six of Thomson's research assistants and Preceded by Lord Rayleigh
junior colleagues (Charles Glover Barkla,[20] Niels Succeeded by Ernest Rutherford
Bohr,[21] Max Born,[22] William Henry Bragg, Owen
Signature
Willans Richardson[23] and Charles Thomson Rees
Wilson[24]) won Nobel Prizes in physics, and two
(Francis William Aston[25] and Ernest Rutherford[26])
won Nobel prizes in chemistry. Thomson's son (George
Paget Thomson) also won the 1937 Nobel Prize in
physics for proving the wave-like properties of electrons.[27]

Early work
Thomson's prize-winning master's work, Treatise on the motion of vortex rings, shows his early interest in
atomic structure.[3] In it, Thomson mathematically described the motions of William Thomson's vortex
theory of atoms.[17]
Thomson published a number of papers addressing both mathematical and experimental issues of
electromagnetism. He examined the electromagnetic theory of light of James Clerk Maxwell, introduced
the concept of electromagnetic mass of a charged particle, and demonstrated that a moving charged body
would apparently increase in mass.[17]

Much of his work in mathematical modelling of chemical processes can be thought of as early
computational chemistry.[1] In further work, published in book form as Applications of dynamics to
physics and chemistry (1888), Thomson addressed the transformation of energy in mathematical and
theoretical terms, suggesting that all energy might be kinetic.[17] His next book, Notes on recent
researches in electricity and magnetism (1893), built upon Maxwell's Treatise upon electricity and
magnetism, and was sometimes referred to as "the third volume of Maxwell".[3] In it, Thomson
emphasized physical methods and experimentation and included extensive figures and diagrams of
apparatus, including a number for the passage of electricity through gases.[17] His third book, Elements of
the mathematical theory of electricity and magnetism ([Link]
(1895)[28] was a readable introduction to a wide variety of subjects, and achieved considerable popularity
as a textbook.[17]

A series of four lectures, given by Thomson on a visit to Princeton University

in 1896, were subsequently published as Discharge of electricity through gases
(1897). Thomson also presented a series of six lectures at Yale University in
1904.[3]

Discovery of the electron

Several scientists, such as William Prout and Norman Lockyer, had suggested
that atoms were built up from a more fundamental unit, but they envisioned
this unit to be the size of the smallest atom, hydrogen. Thomson in 1897 was
the first to suggest that one of the fundamental units of the atom was more than First page to Notes on
1,000 times smaller than an atom, suggesting the subatomic particle now Recent Researches in
known as the electron. Thomson discovered this through his explorations on Electricity and
the properties of cathode rays. Thomson made his suggestion on 30 April 1897 Magnetism (1893)

following his discovery that cathode rays (at the time known as Lenard rays)
could travel much further through air than expected for an atom-sized particle.[29] He estimated the mass
of cathode rays by measuring the heat generated when the rays hit a thermal junction and comparing this
with the magnetic deflection of the rays. His experiments suggested not only that cathode rays were over
1,000 times lighter than the hydrogen atom, but also that their mass was the same in whichever type of
atom they came from. He concluded that the rays were composed of very light, negatively charged
particles which were a universal building block of atoms. He called the particles "corpuscles", but later
scientists preferred the name electron which had been suggested by George Johnstone Stoney in 1891,
prior to Thomson's actual discovery.[30]

In April 1897, Thomson had only early indications that the cathode rays could be deflected electrically
(previous investigators such as Heinrich Hertz had thought they could not be). A month after Thomson's
announcement of the corpuscle, he found that he could reliably deflect the rays by an electric field if he
evacuated the discharge tube to a very low pressure. By comparing the deflection of a beam of cathode
rays by electric and magnetic fields he obtained more robust measurements of the mass-to-charge ratio
that confirmed his previous estimates.[31] This became the classic means of measuring the charge-to-mass
ratio of the electron. Later in 1899 he measured the charge of the electron to be of 6.8 × 10−10 esu.[32]

Thomson believed that the corpuscles emerged from the atoms of the trace gas inside his cathode-ray
tubes. He thus concluded that atoms were divisible, and that the corpuscles were their building blocks. In
1904, Thomson suggested a model of the atom, hypothesizing that it was a sphere of positive matter
within which electrostatic forces determined the positioning of the corpuscles.[1] To explain the overall
neutral charge of the atom, he proposed that the corpuscles were distributed in a uniform sea of positive
charge. In this "plum pudding model", the electrons were seen as embedded in the positive charge like
raisins in a plum pudding (although in Thomson's model they were not stationary, but orbiting
rapidly).[33][34]

Thomson made the discovery around the same time that Walter Kaufmann and Emil Wiechert discovered
the correct mass to charge ratio of these cathode rays (electrons).[35]

The name "electron" was adopted for these particles by the scientific community, mainly due to the
advocation by G. F. FitzGerald, J. Larmor, and H. A. Lorentz.[36]: 273 The term was originally coined by
George Johnstone Stoney in 1891 as a tentative name for the basic unit of electrical charge (which had
then yet to be discovered).[37][38] For some years Thomson resisted using the word "electron" because he
didn't like how some physicists talked of a "positive electron" that was supposed to be the elementary unit
of positive charge just as the "negative electron" is the elementary unit of negative charge. Thomson
preferred to stick with the word "corpuscle" which he strictly defined as negatively charged.[39] He
relented by 1914, using the word "electron" in his book The Atomic Theory.[40] In 1920, Rutherford and
his fellows agreed to call the nucleus of the hydrogen ion "proton", establishing a distinct name for the
smallest known positively-charged particle of matter (that can exist independently anyway).[41]

Isotopes and mass spectrometry

In 1912, as part of his exploration into the composition of the
streams of positively charged particles then known as canal rays,
Thomson and his research assistant F. W. Aston channelled a
stream of neon ions through a magnetic and an electric field and
measured its deflection by placing a photographic plate in its
path.[5] They observed two patches of light on the photographic
plate (see image on right), which suggested two different
parabolas of deflection, and concluded that neon is composed of
atoms of two different atomic masses (neon-20 and neon-22), that
is to say of two isotopes.[42][43] This was the first evidence for
isotopes of a stable element; Frederick Soddy had previously
proposed the existence of isotopes to explain the decay of certain
radioactive elements.
In the bottom right corner of this
photographic plate are markings for
the two isotopes of neon: neon-20
and neon-22.
Thomson's separation of neon isotopes by their mass was the first example of mass spectrometry, which
was subsequently improved and developed into a general method by F. W. Aston and by A. J.
Dempster.[1][2]

External videos
Experiments with cathode rays
Earlier, physicists debated whether cathode rays were immaterial like
light ("some process in the aether") or were "in fact wholly material,
and ... mark the paths of particles of matter charged with negative
electricity", quoting Thomson.[31] The aetherial hypothesis was
vague,[31] but the particle hypothesis was definite enough for Thomson
to test.

Magnetic deflection
Thomson first investigated the magnetic deflection of cathode rays.
Cathode rays were produced in the side tube on the left of the apparatus
and passed through the anode into the main bell jar, where they were
deflected by a magnet. Thomson detected their path by the fluorescence
on a squared screen in the jar. He found that whatever the material of
the anode and the gas in the jar, the deflection of the rays was the same, The Early Life of J. J.
suggesting that the rays were of the same form whatever their origin.[44] Thomson: Computational
Chemistry and Gas
Discharge Experiments (http
Electrical charge
s://[Link]/watc
While supporters of the aetherial h?v=WH-U_qCEzT0)
theory accepted the possibility
that negatively charged particles
are produced in Crookes tubes, they believed that they are a mere
by-product and that the cathode rays themselves are immaterial.
Thomson set out to investigate whether or not he could actually
separate the charge from the rays.

Thomson constructed a Crookes tube with an electrometer set to

one side, out of the direct path of the cathode rays. Thomson could
trace the path of the ray by observing the phosphorescent patch it
created where it hit the surface of the tube. Thomson observed that
the electrometer registered a charge only when he deflected the
cathode ray to it with a magnet. He concluded that the negative
The cathode-ray tube by which J. J.
charge and the rays were one and the same.[29]
Thomson demonstrated that
cathode rays could be deflected by
a magnetic field, and that their
negative charge was not a separate
phenomenon

Electrical deflection
In May–June 1897, Thomson
investigated whether or not
the rays could be deflected by
an electric field.[5] Previous
experimenters had failed to
observe this, but Thomson
believed their experiments
Thomson's illustration of the Crookes tube by which he observed the
were flawed because their deflection of cathode rays by an electric field (and later measured their
tubes contained too much mass-to-charge ratio). Cathode rays were emitted from the cathode C,
gas. passed through slits A (the anode) and B (grounded), then through the
electric field generated between plates D and E, finally impacting the
Thomson constructed a surface at the far end.
Crookes tube with a better
vacuum. At the start of the
tube was the cathode from
which the rays projected. The
rays were sharpened to a
beam by two metal slits – the
first of these slits doubled as The cathode ray (blue line) was deflected by the electric field (yellow).
the anode, the second was
connected to the earth. The beam then passed between two parallel
aluminium plates, which produced an electric field between them
when they were connected to a battery. The end of the tube was a
large sphere where the beam would impact on the glass, created a
glowing patch. Thomson pasted a scale to the surface of this
sphere to measure the deflection of the beam. Any electron beam
would collide with some residual gas atoms within the Crookes
tube, thereby ionizing them and producing electrons and ions in
Cathode-ray tube with electrical
the tube (space charge); in previous experiments this space charge
deflection
electrically screened the externally applied electric field. However,
in Thomson's Crookes tube the density of residual atoms was so
low that the space charge from the electrons and ions was insufficient to electrically screen the externally
applied electric field, which permitted Thomson to successfully observe electrical deflection.

When the upper plate was connected to the negative pole of the battery and the lower plate to the positive
pole, the glowing patch moved downwards, and when the polarity was reversed, the patch moved
upwards.

Measurement of mass-to-charge ratio

In his classic experiment, Thomson measured the mass-to-charge ratio of the cathode rays by measuring
how much they were deflected by a magnetic field and comparing this with the electric deflection. He
used the same apparatus as in his previous experiment, but placed the discharge tube between the poles of
a large electromagnet. He found that the mass-to-charge ratio was over a thousand times lower than that
of a hydrogen ion (H+), suggesting either that the particles were very light and/or very highly charged.[31]
Significantly, the rays from every cathode yielded the same mass-to-charge ratio. This is in contrast to
anode rays (now known to arise from positive ions emitted by the
anode), where the mass-to-charge ratio varies from anode-to-anode.
Thomson himself remained critical of what his work established, in
his Nobel Prize acceptance speech referring to "corpuscles" rather
than "electrons".

Thomson's calculations can be summarised as follows (in his original

notation, using F instead of E for the electric field and H instead of B
for the magnetic field):

The electric deflection is given by , where Θ is the angular electric deflection, F is applied
electric intensity, e is the charge of the cathode ray particles, l is the length of the electric plates, m is the
mass of the cathode ray particles and v is the velocity of the cathode ray particles. The magnetic
deflection is given by , where φ is the angular magnetic deflection and H is the applied
magnetic field intensity.

The magnetic field was varied until the magnetic and electric deflections were the same, when
. This can be simplified to give . The electric deflection
was measured separately to give Θ and H, F and l were known, so m/e could be calculated.

Conclusions

As the cathode rays carry a charge of negative electricity, are deflected by an electrostatic force
as if they were negatively electrified, and are acted on by a magnetic force in just the way in
which this force would act on a negatively electrified body moving along the path of these rays,
I can see no escape from the conclusion that they are charges of negative electricity carried by
particles of matter.

— J. J. Thomson[31]

As to the source of these particles, Thomson believed they emerged from the molecules of gas in the
vicinity of the cathode.

If, in the very intense electric field in the neighbourhood of the cathode, the molecules of the
gas are dissociated and are split up, not into the ordinary chemical atoms, but into these
primordial atoms, which we shall for brevity call corpuscles; and if these corpuscles are
charged with electricity and projected from the cathode by the electric field, they would behave
exactly like the cathode rays.

— J. J. Thomson[45]

Thomson imagined the atom as being made up of these corpuscles orbiting in a sea of positive charge;
this was his plum pudding model. This model was later proved incorrect when his student Ernest
Rutherford showed that the positive charge is concentrated in the nucleus of the atom.

Other work
In 1905, Thomson discovered the natural radioactivity of potassium.[46]

In 1906, Thomson demonstrated that hydrogen had only a single electron per atom. Previous theories
allowed various numbers of electrons.[47][48]

Awards and honours

During his life

Thomson was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS)[24][49]
and appointed to the Cavendish Professorship of Experimental
Physics at the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge in
1884.[1] Thomson won numerous awards and honours during his
career including:

Adams Prize (1882)

Royal Medal (1894) Plaque commemorating J. J.
Hughes Medal (1902) Thomson's discovery of the electron
Hodgkins Medal (1902) outside the old Cavendish
Laboratory in Cambridge
Nobel Prize for Physics (1906)
Elliott Cresson Medal (1910)
Copley Medal (1914)
Franklin Medal (1922)
Thomson was elected a fellow of the Royal Society[24] on 12 June
1884 and served as President of the Royal Society from 1915 to
1920.

Thomson was elected an International Honorary Member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1902, and
International Member of the American Philosophical Society in
1903, and the United States National Academy of Sciences in
1903.[50][51][52]

In November 1927, Thomson opened the Thomson building,

named in his honour, in the Leys School, Cambridge.[53]
Autochrome portrait by Georges
Chevalier, 1923
Posthumous
In 1991, the thomson (symbol: Th) was proposed as a unit to
measure mass-to-charge ratio in mass spectrometry in his honour.[54]

J J Thomson Avenue, on the University of Cambridge's West Cambridge site, is named after Thomson.[55]

The Thomson Medal Award, sponsored by the International Mass Spectrometry Foundation, is named
after Thomson.[56]
The Institute of Physics Joseph Thomson Medal and Prize is named after
Thomson.[57]

Thomson Crescent in Deep River, Ontario, connects with Rutherford Ave.

Thomson c. 1920–1925

See also
List of presidents of the Royal Society

References
1. "Joseph John "J. J." Thomson" ([Link]
j-j-thomson). Science History Institute. June 2016. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
2. Jones, Mark. "Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry" ([Link]
n/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/[Link]).
American Chemical Society. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
3. "J.J. Thomson – Biographical" ([Link]
906/[Link]). The Nobel Prize in Physics 1906. The Nobel Foundation. Retrieved
11 February 2015.
4. Sengupta, Sudipto (6 April 2015). "Extraordinary Professor: JJ Thomson and his Nobel Prize
Factory" ([Link] Probashi. Durga Puja
& Cultural Association (India). Retrieved 7 August 2022. "His Nobel Laureate students
include Rutherford, Aston, Wilson, Bragg, Barkla, Richardson, and Appleton"
5. Davis & Falconer, J.J. Thomson and the Discovery of the Electron
6. Peter J. Bowler, Reconciling Science and Religion: The Debate in Early-Twentieth-Century
Britain (2014). University of Chicago Press. p. 35. ISBN 9780226068596. "Both Lord
Rayleigh and J. J. Thomson were Anglicans."
7. Seeger, Raymond. 1986. "J. J. Thomson, Anglican", in "Perspectives on Science and
Christian Faith", 38 (June 1986): 131–132. The Journal of the American Scientific Affiliation.
"As a Professor, J. J. Thomson did attend the Sunday evening college chapel service, and
as Master, the morning service. He was a regular communicant in the Anglican Church. In
addition, he showed an active interest in the Trinity Mission at Camberwell. With respect to
his private devotional life, J. J. Thomson would invariably practice kneeling for daily prayer,
and read his Bible before retiring each night. He truly was a practicing Christian!" (Raymond
Seeger 1986, 132).
8. Richardson, Owen. 1970. "Joseph J. Thomson", in Dictionary of National Biography, 1931–
1940. L. G. Wickham Legg, editor. Oxford University Press.
 9. Robert John Strutt (1941). "Joseph John Thomson, 1856–1940" ([Link]
rsbm.1941.0024). Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society. 3 (10): 587–609.
doi:10.1098/rsbm.1941.0024 ([Link]
10. Joseph Thomson (1876). "XX. Experiments on contact electricity between non-conductors"
([Link] Proceedings of the Royal Society. 25 (171–
178): 169–171. doi:10.1098/rspl.1876.0039 ([Link]
11. Grayson, Mike (22 May 2013). "The Early Life of J. J. Thomson: Computational Chemistry
and Gas Discharge Experiments" ([Link]
Profiles in Chemistry. Chemical Heritage Foundation. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
12. "Thomson, Joseph John (THN876JJ)" ([Link]
&suro=w&fir=&firo=c&cit=&cito=c&c=all&z=all&tex=THN876JJ&sye=&eye=&col=all&maxco
unt=50). A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
13. Univ, Manchester (1882). The Victoria University Calendar for the Session 1881–2 ([Link]
[Link]/books?id=3d8NAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA184). p. 184. Retrieved 11 February
2015.
14. Navarro, Jaume (2012). A History of the Electron: J. J. and G. P. Thomson ([Link]
[Link]/books?id=d_QgAwAAQBAJ&q=Rose+Paget,&pg=PA71). Cambridge University
Press. ISBN 978-1-139-57671-0.
15. "Joan Paget Thomson (later Charnock), daughter" ([Link]
k/details/r/1f6db32f-8bf0-4446-8883-5b8d29cbe74e). The National Archives. Cambridge
University: Trinity College Library. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
16. NA, NA (2016). Writers Directory ([Link]
oan+charnock+cambridge&pg=PA215). Springer. ISBN 978-1-349-03650-9.
17. Kim, Dong-Won (2002). Leadership and creativity : a history of the Cavendish Laboratory,
1871–1919 ([Link] Dordrecht:
Kluwer Acad. Publ. ISBN 978-1402004759. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
18. 'The Abbey Scientists' Hall, A.R. p. 63: London; Roger & Robert Nicholson; 1966
19. Westminster Abbey. "Sir Joseph John Thomson" ([Link]
ory/people/sir-joseph-john-thomson).
20. "Charles Glover Barkla – Biographical" ([Link]
la/biographical/). The Nobel Prize. Nobel Lectures, Physics 1901–1921, Elsevier Publishing
Company. 1967. Retrieved 11 October 2022. "he worked under J. J. Thomson at the
Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge."
21. "Niels Bohr – Biographical" ([Link]
al/). The Nobel Prize. Nobel Lectures, Physics 1922–1941, Elsevier Publishing Company,
Amsterdam. 1965. Retrieved 18 October 2022. "he made a stay at Cambridge, where he
profited by following the experimental work going on in the Cavendish Laboratory under Sir
J.J. Thomson's guidance"
22. "Max Born- Biographical" ([Link]
cal/). The Nobel Prize. Nobel Lectures, Physics 1942–1962, Elsevier Publishing Company.
1964. Retrieved 11 October 2022. "Born next went to Cambridge for a short time, to study
under Larmor and J. J. Thomson."
23. "Sir Owen Willans Richardson, British physicist" ([Link]
n-Willans-Richardson). Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 18 October 2022. "Richardson,
a graduate (1900) of Trinity College, Cambridge, and a student of J. J. Thomson at the
Cavendish Laboratory"
24. Rayleigh (1941). "Joseph John Thomson. 1856–1940" ([Link]
1.0024). Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society. 3 (10): 586–609.
doi:10.1098/rsbm.1941.0024 ([Link]
25. "Francis W. Aston – Biographical" ([Link]
iographical//). The Nobel Prize. Nobel Lectures, Physics 1922–1941, Elsevier Publishing
Company. 1966. Retrieved 13 October 2022. "At the end of 1909 he accepted the invitation
of Sir J. J. Thomson to work as his assistant at the Cavendish Laboratory"
26. "Ernest Rutherford – Biography" ([Link]
d/biographical/). [Link]. Retrieved 6 August 2013. "as a research student at the
Cavendish Laboratory under J.J. Thomson."
27. "George Paget Thomson Biographical" ([Link]
mson/biographical/). The Nobel Prize. Retrieved 8 June 2022. "he carried out experiments
on the behaviour of electrons ... which showed that electrons behave as waves ..."
28. Mackenzie, A. Stanley (1896). "Review: Elements of the Mathematical Theory of Electricity
and Magnetism by J. J. Thomson" ([Link]
04-1896-00357-8/[Link]) (PDF). Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 2 (10):
329–333. doi:10.1090/s0002-9904-1896-00357-8 ([Link]
896-00357-8).
29. Thomson, J.J. (1897). "Cathode Rays" ([Link]
J&pg=PA104). The Electrician. 39: 104.
30. Falconer, Isobel (2001). "Corpuscles to electrons" ([Link]
08/falconer_corpusclestoelectrons_preprint.pdf) (PDF). In Buchwald, J. Z.; Warwick, A.
(eds.). Histories of the Electron. MIT Press. pp. 77–100. ISBN 978-0262024945.
31. Thomson, J. J. (7 August 1897). "Cathode Rays" ([Link]
[Link]) (PDF). Philosophical Magazine. 5. 44 (269): 293.
doi:10.1080/14786449708621070 ([Link]
Retrieved 4 August 2014.
32. Thomson, J.J. (1899). "On the masses of the ions in gases at low pressures" ([Link]
[Link]/doi/abs/10.1080/14786449908621447). The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin
Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science. 48 (295): 547–567.
doi:10.1080/14786449908621447 ([Link]
Retrieved 28 December 2024.
33. Mellor, Joseph William (1917), Modern Inorganic Chemistry ([Link]
s?id=1iQ7AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA868), Longmans, Green and Company, p. 868, "According to
J. J. Thomson's hypothesis, atoms are built of systems of rotating rings of electrons."
34. Dahl (1997), p. 324: "Thomson's model, then, consisted of a uniformly charged sphere of
positive electricity (the pudding), with discrete corpuscles (the plums) rotating about the
center in circular orbits, whose total charge was equal and opposite to the positive charge.
([Link]
35. Chown, Marcus (29 March 1997). "Forum: Just who did discover the electron?" ([Link]
[Link]/article/mg15320756-400-forum-just-who-did-discover-the-electron-marc
us-chown-says-the-truth-is-not-quite-as-the-history-books-suggest/). New Scientist (2075).
Retrieved 17 October 2020. "Marcus Chown says the truth is not quite as the history books
suggest."
36. O'Hara, J. G. (March 1975). "George Johnstone Stoney, F.R.S., and the Concept of the
Electron". Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London. 29 (2). Royal Society: 265–
276. doi:10.1098/rsnr.1975.0018 ([Link]
JSTOR 531468 ([Link] S2CID 145353314 ([Link]
[Link]/CorpusID:145353314).
37. George Johnstone Stoney (1891). "On the Cause of Double Lines and of Equidistant
Satellites in the Spectra of Gases" ([Link] The
Scientific Transactions of the Royal Dublin Society. 4: 583–608.
38. George Johnstone Stoney (1894). "Of the "Electron", or Atom of Electricity" ([Link]
rg/details/londonedinburgh5381894lon/page/418/mode/2up). Philosophical Magazine.
Series 5. 38 (233): 418–420.
39. J. J. Thomson (1907). "The Modern Theory of Electrical Conductivity of Metals" ([Link]
[Link]/books?id=Ni9HAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA467). Journal of the Institution of Electrical
Engineers. 38 (183): 455–468. doi:10.1049/jiee-1.1907.0026 ([Link]
e-1.1907.0026).: "Perhaps I can best show my appreciation by trying to answer the
questions which Professor Silvanus Thompson addressed to me. I think his first question
was a question rather of notation, as to the difference between the electron and the
corpuscle. I prefer the corpuscle for two reasons: first of all, it is my own child, and I have a
kind of parental affection for it; and, secondly, I think it has one merit which the term electron
has not. We talk about positive and negative electrons, and I think when you use the same
term for the two the suggestion is that there is an equality, so to speak, in the properties.
From my point of view the difference between the negative and the positive is essential, and
much greater than I think would be suggested by the term positive electron and negative
electron. Therefore I prefer to use a special term for the negative units and call it a
corpuscle. A corpuscle is just a negative electron."
40. J. J. Thomson (1914). The Atomic Theory ([Link]
omrich/page/n3/mode/2up). Oxford Clarendon Press.
41. Orme Masson (1921). "The Constitution of Atoms" ([Link]
s/[Link]%3Fdownload%3D1&ved=2ahUKEwjN-YzeqIiGAxVyUqQEHaM_COwQFnoECB
wQAQ&usg=AOvVaw1G76aUFXByKGSDekUwv2sa). The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin
Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science. 41 (242): 281–285.
doi:10.1080/14786442108636219 ([Link]
Footnote by Ernest Rutherford: 'At the time of writing this paper in Australia, Professor Orme
Masson was not aware that the name "proton" had already been suggested as a suitable
name for the unit of mass nearly 1, in terms of oxygen 16, that appears to enter into the
nuclear structure of atoms. The question of a suitable name for this unit was discussed at an
informal meeting of a number of members of Section A of the British Association [for the
Advancement of Science] at Cardiff this year. The name "baron" suggested by Professor
Masson was mentioned, but was considered unsuitable on account of the existing variety of
meanings. Finally the name " proton" met with general approval, particularly as it suggests
the original term "protyle " given by Prout in his well-known hypothesis that all atoms are
built up of hydrogen. The need of a special name for the nuclear unit of mass 1 was drawn
attention to by Sir Oliver Lodge at the Sectional meeting, and the writer then suggested the
name "proton."'
42. J.J. Thomson (1912) "Further experiments on positive rays," Philosophical Magazine, series
6, 24 (140): 209–253.
43. J. J. Thomson (1913) "Rays of positive electricity", Proceedings of the Royal Society A, 89:
1–20.
44. Thomson, J. J. (8 February 1897). "On the cathode rays". Proceedings of the Cambridge
Philosophical Society. 9: 243.
45. Thomson, J. J. (1897). "Cathode rays" ([Link]
l). Philosophical Magazine. 44: 293.
46. Thomson, J. J. (1905). "On the emission of negative corpuscles by the alkali metals" (http
s://[Link]/record/1430786). Philosophical Magazine. Series 6. 10 (59): 584–590.
doi:10.1080/14786440509463405 ([Link]
47. Hellemans, Alexander; Bunch, Bryan (1988). The Timetables of Science. Simon & Schuster.
p. 411. ISBN 0671621300.
48. Thomson, J. J. (June 1906). "On the Number of Corpuscles in an Atom" ([Link]
record/1430808). Philosophical Magazine. 11 (66): 769–781.
doi:10.1080/14786440609463496 ([Link]
Retrieved 4 October 2008.
49. Thomson, Sir George Paget. "Sir J.J. Thomson, British Physicist" ([Link]
m/EBchecked/topic/593074/Sir-JJ-Thomson). Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved
11 February 2015.
50. "Joseph John Thomson" ([Link] American
Academy of Arts & Sciences. 10 February 2023. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
51. "APS Member History" ([Link]
homson&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=ad
vanced). [Link]. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
52. "Joseph J. Thomson" ([Link]
[Link]). National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
53. "Opening of the New Science Building: Thomson" ([Link]
2826/[Link] 1 December 2005.
Archived from the original ([Link] on 11
January 2015. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
54. Cooks, R. G.; A. L. Rockwood (1991). "The 'Thomson'. A suggested unit for mass
spectroscopists". Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry. 5 (2): 93.
55. "Cambridge Physicist is streets ahead" ([Link]
[Link]/news/cambridge-physicist-is-streets-ahead/). 18 July 2002.
Archived from the original ([Link]
streets-ahead/) on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
56. "Awards Page – Thomson Medal Award" ([Link]
s://[Link]/[Link]). International Mass Spectrometry Foundation. Archived from
the original ([Link] on 13 May 2019. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
"The Thomson Medal Award is named after Sir J. J. Thomson, who was responsible for the
first mass spectrograph"
57. "Silver Subject Medals and Prizes" ([Link]
#thomson). Institute of Physics. Retrieved 7 March 2023.

Bibliography
1883. A Treatise on the Motion of Vortex Rings: An essay to which
the Adams Prize was adjudged in 1882, in the University of
Cambridge. London: Macmillan and Co., pp. 146. Recent reprint:
ISBN 0-543-95696-2.
1888. Applications of Dynamics to Physics and Chemistry.
London: Macmillan and Co., pp. 326. Recent reprint: ISBN 1-4021-
8397-6.
1893. Notes on recent researches in electricity and magnetism:
intended as a sequel to Professor Clerk-Maxwell's 'Treatise on
Electricity and Magnetism '. ([Link]
session=1674O3899X03Q.1860471&profile=rev-nbl&source=~!hor
izon&view=subscriptionsummary&uri=full=3100006~!44260~!4&ri=
5&aspect=power&menu=search&ipp=20&spp=20&staffonly=&term
=Notes+on+Recent+Researches+in+Electricity+and+Magnetism&i
ndex=.GW&uindex=&aspect=power&menu=search&ri=5) Oxford Title page to Notes on
University Press, pp. xvi & 578. 1991, Cornell University Recent Researches in
Monograph: ISBN 1-4297-4053-1. Electricity and
Magnetism (1893)
Thomson, Joseph John (1893). Notes on recent researches in
electricity and magnetism ([Link]
eryManager?pid=11926786). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Thomson, Joseph John (1900). Discharge of electricity through gases ([Link]
[Link]/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=6577088) (in German). Leipzig: Johann Ambrosius
Barth.
Thomson, Joseph John (1904). Electricity and matter ([Link]
[Link]/ipac20/[Link]?session=1674O3899X03Q.1860471&prof
ile=rev-nbl&source=~!horizon&view=subscriptionsummary&uri=full
=3100006~!44622~!2&ri=8&aspect=power&menu=search&ipp=20
&spp=20&staffonly=&term=%22Electricity+and+Matter%22&index
=.GW&uindex=&aspect=power&menu=search&ri=8) (in English).
Oxford : Clarendon Press.
Thomson, Joseph John (1905). Electricity and matter ([Link]
[Link]/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=7160090) (in Italian).
Milano: Hoepli.
Thomson, Joseph John (1908). Corpuscular theory of matter (http
s://[Link]/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=6577571) (in
German). Braunschweig: Vieweg und Sohn.
1921 (1895). Elements of the Mathematical Theory of Electricity
Title page to Electricity
And Magnetism. London: Macmillan and Co. Scan of 1895 edition.
and Matter (1904)
([Link]
s+of+the+mathematical+theory+of+electricity+and+magnetism)
A Text book of Physics in Five Volumes, co-authored with J.H. Poynting: (1) Properties of
Matter, (2) Sound, (3) Heat, (4) Light, and (5) Electricity and Magnetism. Dated 1901 and
later, and with revised later editions.
Dahl, Per F. (1997). Flash of the Cathode Rays: A History of J J Thomson's Electron (https://
[Link]/details/flashofcathodera0000dahl/page/n5/mode/2up). Bristol and Philadelphia:
Institute of Physics Publishing. ISBN 0-7503-0453-7.
J.J. Thomson (1897) "Cathode Rays", The Electrician 39, 104, also published in
Proceedings of the Royal Institution 30 April 1897, 1–14 – first announcement of the
"corpuscle" (before the classic mass and charge experiment)
J.J. Thomson (1897), Cathode rays ([Link]
Philosophical Magazine, 44, 293 – the classic measurement of the electron mass and
charge
J.J. Thomson (1904), "On the Structure of the Atom ([Link]
72104/[Link]
[Link]): an Investigation of the Stability and Periods of Oscillation of a number of
Corpuscles arranged at equal intervals around the Circumference of a Circle; with
Application of the Results to the Theory of Atomic Structure," Philosophical Magazine Series
6, Volume 7, Number 39, pp. 237–265. This paper presents the classical "plum pudding
model" from which the Thomson Problem is posed.
J. J. Thomson (1906). "On the Number of Corpuscles in an Atom" ([Link]
[Link]/files/histoire-physique/[Link]) (PDF). Philosophical Magazine. 6. 11 (66):
769–781. doi:10.1080/14786440609463496 ([Link]
96).
Joseph John Thomson (1908). On the Light Thrown by Recent Investigations on Electricity
on the Relation Between Matter and Ether: The Adamson Lecture Delivered at the
University on November 4, 1907 ([Link]
University Press.
J.J. Thomson (1912), "Further experiments on positive rays" Philosophical Magazine, 24,
209–253 – first announcement of the two neon parabolae
J.J. Thomson (1913), Rays of positive electricity ([Link]
l), Proceedings of the Royal Society, A 89, 1–20 – discovery of neon isotopes
J.J. Thomson (1923), The Electron in Chemistry: Being Five Lectures Delivered at the
Franklin Institute, Philadelphia.
Thomson, Sir J. J. (1936), Recollections and Reflections, London: G. Bell & Sons, Ltd.
Republished as digital edition ([Link]
 ollections+and+Reflections+thomson), Cambridge: University
Press, 2011 (Cambridge Library Collection series).
Thomson, George Paget. (1964) J.J. Thomson: Discoverer of the
Electron. Great Britain: Thomas Nelson & Sons, Ltd.
Davis, Eward Arthur & Falconer, Isobel (1997), J.J. Thomson and
the Discovery of the Electron. ISBN 978-0-7484-0696-8
Falconer, Isobel (1988) "J.J. Thomson's Work on Positive Rays,
1906–1914" Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological
Sciences 18(2) 265–310
Falconer, Isobel (2001) "Corpuscles to Electrons" in J Buchwald
and A Warwick (eds) Histories of the Electron, Cambridge, Mass:
MIT Press, pp. 77–100.
Navarro, Jaume (2005). "J. J. Thomson on the Nature of Matter:
Corpuscles and the Continuum". Centaurus. 47 (4): 259–282.
Bibcode:2005Cent...47..259N ([Link] Corpuscular theory of
005Cent...47..259N). doi:10.1111/j.1600-0498.2005.00028.x (http matter, 1908
s://[Link]/10.1111%2Fj.1600-0498.2005.00028.x).
Downard, Kevin M. (2009). "J. J. Thomson goes to America".
Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry. 20 (11): 1964–1973.
Bibcode:2009JASMS..20.1964D ([Link]
D). doi:10.1016/[Link].2009.07.008 ([Link]
PMID 19734055 ([Link] S2CID 34371775 ([Link]
[Link]/CorpusID:34371775).

External links
The Discovery of the Electron ([Link] Archived ([Link]
[Link]/web/20080316233916/[Link] 16 March 2008 at the
Wayback Machine
J. J. Thomson ([Link] on [Link] with the Nobel
Lecture, 11 December 1906 Carriers of Negative Electricity
Annotated bibliography for Joseph J. Thomson from the Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear
Issues ([Link]
wse=people%2FThomson%2C+Joseph+J.)
Essay on Thomson life and religious views ([Link]
tp://[Link]/ASA/PSCF/1986/[Link])
The Cathode Ray Tube site ([Link]
[Link]/[Link])
Thomson's discovery of the isotopes of Neon ([Link]
AAMBAJ&pg=PA521)
Photos of some of Thomson's remaining apparatus at the Cavendish Laboratory Museum (h
ttps://[Link]/web/20110719091132/[Link]
useum/area2/[Link])
A short film of Thomson lecturing on electrical engineering and the discovery of the electron
([Link] (1934)
Works by J. J. Thomson ([Link] at Project
Gutenberg
Works by or about J. J. Thomson ([Link]
A%22Thomson%2C%20Joseph%20John%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Thomson%2C%
20Joseph%20J%2E%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Thomson%2C%20J%2E%20J%2E%2
2%20OR%20subject%3A%22Joseph%20John%20Thomson%22%20OR%20subject%3A%
 22Joseph%20J%2E%20Thomson%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22J%2E%20J%2E%20Th
omson%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Joseph%20John%20Thomson%22%20OR%20crea
tor%3A%22Joseph%20J%2E%20Thomson%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22J%2E%20J%2
E%20Thomson%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22J%2E%20John%20Thomson%22%20O
R%20creator%3A%22Thomson%2C%20Joseph%20John%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22
Thomson%2C%20Joseph%20J%2E%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Thomson%2C%20J%
2E%20J%2E%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Thomson%2C%20J%2E%20John%22%20O
R%20title%3A%22Joseph%20John%20Thomson%22%20OR%20title%3A%22Joseph%20
J%2E%20Thomson%22%20OR%20title%3A%22J%2E%20J%2E%20Thomson%22%20O
R%20description%3A%22Joseph%20John%20Thomson%22%20OR%20description%3A%
22Joseph%20J%2E%20Thomson%22%20OR%20description%3A%22J%2E%20J%2E%20
Thomson%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Thomson%2C%20Joseph%20John%22%20
OR%20description%3A%22Thomson%2C%20Joseph%20J%2E%22%29%20OR%20%2
8%221856-1940%22%20AND%20Thomson%29%29%20AND%20%28-mediatype:softwar
e%29) at the Internet Archive
A history of the electron: JJ and GP Thomson ([Link]
ects/physics/history-philosophy-and-foundations-physics/history-electron-j-j-and-g-p-thomso
n?format=PB&isbn=9781108724432) published by the University of the Basque Country
(2013)

Retrieved from "[Link]