JOSEPH JOHN THOMSON Physicist By: Elizabeth Devin, Brittany Vereen, & Katie Garnett

JOSEPH JOHN THOMSON

BIOGRAPHY  Born on December 18 th, 1856 in Cheetham Hill, Manchester  Went to Owens College at the young age of 14  Also went to college at University of Manchester, University of Cambridge, Victoria University of Manchester, Trinity College, Cambridge  Married Rose Elisabeth Paget  They had a son, George Paget Thomson  They also had a daughter, Joan Paget Thomson  Won a Nobel Peace Prize in Physics  Died on August 30 th, 1940, in Cambridge, United Kingdom

MODELS/EXPERIMENTS  In his early work, he worked in electromagnetism in 1893  Then went to work Cathode rays in 1897  Discovered the electron in 1897  His 1 st figure: a schematic of diagram of his apparatus showing a beam of electrons  Won his Nobel Peace Prize in 1906 for his work discovering in the electron and in Physics  7 of his research associates went on to win Nobel Prizes

TIMELINE  1873: His parents planned to enroll him as an apprentice engineer to Sharp-Stewart & Co, a locomotive manufacturer, but these plans were cut short when his father died in  1890: In 1890 he married Rose Elisabeth Paget, daughter of Sir George Edward Paget, KCB, a physician and then Regius Professor of Physic at Cambridge.

TIMELINE (CONTINUED)  1891: 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.  1897: Thomson, in 1897, was the first to suggest that the fundamental unit was over 1000 times smaller than an atom, suggesting the subatomic particle now known as the electron.

TIMELINE (CONTINUED)  1906: In 1906 Thomson demonstrated that hydrogen had only a single electron per atom.  1937: His son won the Nobel Prize in 1937 for proving the wavelike properties of electrons.  1940: He died on 30 August 1940 and was buried in Westminster Abbey, close to Sir Isaac Newton.  ( +&sc=8-21&sp=1&cvid=fc9e7270a4cd486b930c2df42705a23f&FORM=QBRE)

BIGGEST BREAK THROUGH IN LIFE  He began studying cathode rays, which are glowing beams of light that follow an electrical discharge in a high-vacuum tube. It was a popular topic among physicists at the time because the nature of cathode rays was unclear.  Then, he went to on devising better equipment and methods than had been used before. When he passed the rays through the vacuum, he was able to measure the angle at which they were deflected and calculate the ratio of the electrical charge to the mass of the particles. He discovered that the ratio was the same regardless of what type of gas was used, which led him to conclude that the particles that made up the gases were universal.

BIGGEST BREAK THROUGH’S IN LIFE CONTINUED…  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.  This ended the theory that the atom was the smallest fundamental unit.

BIGGEST BREAK THROUGH’S IN LIFE CONTINUED…  He discovered that neon was composed of two different kinds of atoms, and proved the existence of isotopes in a stable element. This was the first use of mass spectrometry.  Finally, in 1906 he won a Nobel Peace Prize for the discovering the electron.

5 QUESTION QUIZ 1)At what age did he attend college? 2)In what year did he discover the electron? 3)What did he win in 1906? 4)What happened in 1906 besides him winning an award? 5) What happened in 1937?

ANSWERS TO FIVE QUESTION QUIZ 1)14 2)1897 3)Nobel Peace Prize 4)Thomson demonstrated that hydrogen had only a single electron per atom 5)His son won the Nobel Prize in 1937 for proving the wavelike properties of electrons.