Discovered by Joseph John Thomson in 1897, the electron was the first elementary particle it be clearly identified. During that time he was working at Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, and he had been Cavendish professor of Experimental Physics for 12 years.
He demonstrated conclusively that cathode rays are negatively charged atom-like particles which he called ‘corpuscles’ and which are now called electrons.
He proved that cathode rays consisted of electrically charge particles of about one-thousandth the mass of the hydrogen atom.
Further investigation of the properties of the electron led the way into the new world of quantum mechanics.
Before that Julius Plucker of the University of Bonn discovered cathode rays in 1859. The other line of research was on the so-called ‘Edison Effect’ discovered in 1883 by Thomas Alva Edison.
By 1879 William Crookes, English physicist an chemist has shown that cathode rays had momentum and also definite energy.
In 1891, the word electron was coined by Johnstone Stoney.
Thompson, coincident with his discovery of the electron proposed a model of the atom having negatively charged electrons sprinkled about like raisins in a cake.
Discovery of Electron
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