Scientists

J. J. Thomson

Also Known As Joseph John Thomson

Citation Formats

General Reference

Science Atlas. "J. J. Thomson." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://dev-science.interactiveatlas.org/scientists/jj-thomson.

APA Style

Science Atlas. (n.d.). J. J. Thomson. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://dev-science.interactiveatlas.org/scientists/jj-thomson

BibTeX

@misc{scienceatlas-j-j-thomson,
  author = {Science Atlas},
  title = {J. J. Thomson},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://dev-science.interactiveatlas.org/scientists/jj-thomson},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

British physicist, discoverer of the electron in 1897, who built an early positive ray apparatus around 1912 to 13 that passed charged particles through electric and magnetic fields to sort them by mass, producing the first mass spectra and the first evidence that some elements exist as a mixture of isotopes. He won the 1906 Nobel Prize in Physics for his earlier work on the conduction of electricity through gases, not for the mass spectrograph itself.

Facts

Birth Year

1856 1

Field

Physics, atomic structure and mass spectrometry 1

Cross-Tradition Connections

Founded

Particle Physics

Source Particle Physics (Wikipedia)

Invented

Mass Spectrometer

Built an early positive ray apparatus around 1912 to 13 that sorted charged particles by mass, producing the first mass spectra; his student Francis Aston later refined the device into the modern mass spectrograph.

Source Mass Spectrometry (Wikipedia)