J.J. Thomson was a Nobel Prize winning physicist whose research led to the discovery of electrons. In the 1890s, J.J. Thomson managed to estimate their magnitude by performing experiments with charged particles in gases. In 1897, he showed that cathode rays consist of ‘electrons’ that conduct electricity.
Thomson was born on 18th December 1856 in Cheetham Hill, England. In 1894, Thomson began studying cathode rays, which are glowing beams of light that follow an electrical discharge in a high-vacuum tube. Thomson determined that all matter is made up of tiny particles that are much smaller than atoms. He originally called these particles ‘corpuscles’, although they are now called electrons.
Thomson was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1884, and was its President from 1916-1920. He died at the age of 83, on 30th August 1940.
His ashes were buried in the Nave of Westminster Abbey, joining other science greats such as Isaac Newton, Lord Kelvin, Charles Darwin, Charles Lyell, and Ernest Rutherford.
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