J. J. Thomson

J. J. Thomson
Sir Joseph John Thomson (1856-1940). Portrait by Arthur Hacker.
Born	18 December 1856 Cheetham Hill, Manchester, UK
Died	30 August 1940 (aged 83) Cambridge, UK
Nationality	British
Fields	Physics
Institutions	Cambridge University
Alma mater	University of Manchester University of Cambridge
Academic advisors	John Strutt (Rayleigh) Edward John Routh
Notable students	Charles Glover Barkla Charles T. R. Wilson Ernest Rutherford Francis William Aston John Townsend J. Robert Oppenheimer Owen Richardson William Henry Bragg H. Stanley Allen John Zeleny Daniel Frost Comstock Max Born T. H. Laby Paul Langevin Balthasar van der Pol Geoffrey Ingram Taylor
Known for	Plum pudding model Discovery of electron Discovery of isotopes Mass spectrometer invention First m/e measurement Proposed first waveguide Thomson scattering Thomson problem Coining term 'delta ray' Coining term 'epsilon radiation' Thomson (unit)
Notable awards	Nobel Prize for Physics (1906)
Signature
Notes Thomson is the father of Nobel laureate George Paget Thomson.

Sir Joseph John "J.J." Thomson, OM, FRS (18 December 1856 – 30 August 1940) was a British physicist and Nobel laureate. He discovered the electron and isotopes, and invented the mass spectrometer. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1906 for his discovery of the electron and his work on the conduction of electricity in gases. John Joseph Thomson in 1893 said: "There is no other branch of physics which affords us so promising an opportunity of penetrating the secret of electricity."

Circling around his work with the atomic theory, J.J Thomson was the third in a line of five to come up with a theory. He hypothesized that atoms were spheres of evenly spread positive charge, where an individual negatively charged electron resided. He later concluded there was more than one negatively charged particle in an atom.