Sir J. J. Thomson OM PRS FRS
(1856-1940)
Fellow of the Royal Society, Dalton Medal recipient, Nobel Physics Laureate (1906), Knight Bachelor (from 1908), Order of Merit recipient (from 1912), and 42nd President of the Royal Society (1915-1920)
Died aged c. 84
Wikidata WikipediaSir Joseph John Thomson OM PRS (18 December 1856 – 30 August 1940) was a British physicist and Nobel Laureate in Physics, credited with the discovery of the electron, the first subatomic particle to be discovered. 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. 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. Thomson was awarded the 1906 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the conduction of electricity in gases. Thomson was also a teacher, and several of his mentees also went on to win Nobel Prizes.
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Commemorated on 1 plaque
Here in 1897 at the old Cavendish Laboratory J. J. Thomson discovered the electron subsequently recognised as the first fundamental particle of physics and the basis of chemical bonding electronics and computing
Free School Lane, Cambridge, United Kingdom where they discovered the electron