Article: Thomson, Joseph John

Thomson, Joseph John


ENGLISH PHYSICIST 1856 1940

Joseph John Thomson, always known as "J. J.," was born in Manchester, England, on December 18, 1856. His fame derives primarily from his discovery of the electron in 1897. He studied physics and mathematics, first in Manchester, and in 1876 went to Trinity College, Cambridge University, and never left. He graduated in 1880 and in 1884 succeeded Lord Rayleigh as professor of physics and director of the Cavendish Laboratory. (When he retired from Cavendish in 1919 he passed the baton to Ernest Rutherford). Thomson made Cambridge a world center for atomic physics. He won the Nobel Prize for physics in 1906 for his work on the ...

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